D
Washington Commanders
Green should have been long gone. The Commanders pounced, and earned a D.
by The Top Cat ·
2026 NFL Draft
· 8 picks
· 5 steals
· 1 reaches
You can lose a draft before you make a pick. The Commanders did it at the trade table, overpaying to chase players the board did not price nearly as high. Put together, it is a D.
They covered a lot of ground and still skipped edge rusher, which is a strange place to end up. The Boerkircher reach is the anchor dragging on the value grade.
The Green steal is the beam this whole class leans on. On the needs board they went 5 of 8, with wide receiver the one that mattered most.
A rough weekend that leaves the roster with more questions than answers.
Pick-by-Pick
In pick No. 7 they get a centerfielder for the defense. Need was not the driver here.
Value with a capital V on Jake Slaughter in No. 71, a genuine coup. The biggest hole on the depth chart just got a whole lot smaller.
Ted Hurst at the Round 4 slot is money in the bank, a wide receiver taken below his worth. A glaring weakness, addressed head on.
A conviction pick on Nate Boerkircher at slot 147 that the board grades a round light. That was the need underlined and circled, and now it is checked off.
The board had Domani Jackson higher than the 187th overall pick, and the cornerback fell to them anyway. It also answers one of the loudest questions on the roster.
They will replay Taylen Green at pick 209 for years; that is how good the value is. Another box on the needs board, quietly ticked.
Eric McAlister at slot 217 is the steal of the weekend, a first-round talent at a bargain-bin price. They walked in needing this and walked out with it.
A market-rate safety, with the board and the slot shaking hands on Robert Spears-Jennings. A want more than a need, though you can never have too many.