F
Washington Commanders
Nix is the plan now, and the Commanders grade out a F.
by Big Russ ·
2024 NFL Draft
· 29 picks
· 3 steals
· 19 reaches
You can fall in love with a player. You are not supposed to marry him in the wrong round. The Commanders did exactly that with J.J. Weaver in the Round 5 slot.
They handed away value on the phones that the picks cannot earn back. So much rides on Bo Nix that the rest of the class almost grades on a curve behind him. The Solomon pick is fine in a vacuum, less so with interior defensive lineman still on the board.
That is a cornerback worth more than the slot they spent on him, plainly. A whole weekend of picks and interior defensive lineman is somehow still a want. The bill for those future picks comes due whether the class hits or not.
About as rough as a weekend gets on paper, with interior defensive lineman still staring back at them.
Pick-by-Pick
In Round 1, Pick 11 they get a franchise quarterback, though the board says they badly overpaid. A real need, handled.
In pick 23 they get an anchor for the offensive line at fair value. It fills the loudest need on the roster.
In pick No. 25 they get a premier pass rusher. A clean fit for the roster.
A market-rate linebacker, with the board and the slot shaking hands on Edgerrin Cooper. Useful body for a position without much behind the starter.
No drama and no debate, Chris Braswell went about where he belonged in slot 40. It shores up a spot that genuinely needed the help.
By-the-book stuff, J.J. McCarthy at the Round 2 slot squarely in line with his ranking. It plugs a real leak on the depth chart.
A conviction pick on Brandon Dorlus at pick No. 67 that the board grades a round light. It patches a soft spot without any drama.
They talked themselves into Johnny Wilson at slot 98, and the board did not agree. It answers the question that was keeping the coaches up at night.
They reached a country mile for Ben Sinnott at No. 99, and the board is aghast. The biggest hole on the depth chart just got a whole lot smaller.
They stopped a slide they were happy to see, landing Dominick Puni in the Round 4 slot. Better still, it is exactly the hole they had to fill.
The eyebrow-raiser of the weekend. They went OLB-EDGE with Javon Solomon while clear needs at interior defensive lineman sat open.
A want over a need in Round 4, Pick 9: Cedric Gray adds a linebacker while interior defensive lineman keeps waiting.
Cody Schrader at the 129th overall pick is an overdraft of the loud, memorable kind. The roster fit checks out.
A surprising call. With interior defensive lineman still to address, they spent pick 130 on Tommy Eichenberg, a linebacker they were not short of.
A big swing on Anthony Gould at Round 5, Pick 2, well ahead of any board in the building. A must-fix position, and they treated it like one.
This one needs a full-page explanation: Khristian Boyd in the 153rd overall pick, miles early. It fills a real need, too.
They left a pile of value on the table to take J.J. Weaver this early at slot 156. A sensible fit for a spot that needed help.
Javion Cohen at the 166th pick is right where the board had him, plain and simple. That was the need underlined and circled, and now it is checked off.
Value said wait; Joe Milton III in No. 177 says they were not listening. Another box on the needs board, quietly ticked.
The board screamed and they did not listen, reaching into the next round for Anim Dankwah. Top of the wish list, and they did not leave without it.
Drake Nugent at the Round 6 slot is the kind of overdraft that needs everything to break right. The one spot they could not leave alone, and did not.
Steal is underselling it; Jarrian Jones at pick 190 is a heist with the alarm still ringing. A glaring weakness, addressed head on.
Value with a capital V on Johnny Dixon in No. 198, a genuine coup. This was priority one on the needs board, and now it is handled.
Marshel Martin in Round 6, Pick 39 is a reach so steep the board needed a second look to believe it. It also answers one of the loudest questions on the roster.
A swing that ignored the value entirely, Eyabi Okie-Anoma well ahead of where he belonged. A real hole, addressed with a reasonable pick.
Frank Gore Jr. in pick No. 218 is fair value, right on his grade. A need, and now a little less of one.
They paid up for Javontae Jean-Baptiste at pick 220 when waiting would have done the job. A sensible fit that makes the depth chart a little sturdier.
Richard Jibunor in the 246th overall pick is a bet on their own eyes over everyone else's grade. It fits a board better than it fits this team.
A wild overpay on C.J. Hanson in the Round 7 slot, the sort that defines a class for the wrong reasons. They walked in needing this and walked out with it.