B+
Washington Commanders
The Commanders robbed the room for Carson. Final grade: B+.
by Yes please ·
2024 NFL Draft
· 11 picks
· 4 steals
· 2 reaches
This is the pick they will still be bragging about in July: Caelen Carson, the No. 94 name on the board, stolen at pick No. 152. More right than wrong, and a B+ to match.
The dealing alone would carry a lesser class. The Jones reach is the anchor dragging on the value grade. A whole weekend of picks and running back is somehow still a want.
Adding Ja'Whaun Bentley by trade rounds out the weekend beyond the rookies.
In sum, a sturdy weekend with one asterisk, the running back spot they never got to.
Pick-by-Pick
Nothing to complain about; Marvin Harrison Jr. went a shade earlier than his grade, which is fine. Better still, it is exactly the hole they had to fill.
Michael Penix Jr. in the 36th pick is the kind of fall that makes a whole class. One more legitimate question on the roster, answered.
A clean, defensible pick in pick No. 40 with a little surplus value in Ja'Tavion Sanders. The biggest hole on the depth chart just got a whole lot smaller.
A reasonable price with a little left over, Bralen Trice in pick 67. A need, and now a little less of one.
Kiran Amegadjie in Round 3, Pick 14 is a bargain the rest of the room will envy. A glaring weakness, addressed head on.
Zak Zinter in the Round 3 slot is exactly on the number, no argument either way. That was the need underlined and circled, and now it is checked off.
A wild overpay on Christian Jones in slot 103, the sort that defines a class for the wrong reasons. A must-fix position, and they treated it like one.
A swing that ignored the value entirely, Roger Rosengarten well ahead of where he belonged. Top of the wish list, and they did not leave without it.
No drama and no debate, Tommy Eichenberg went about where he belonged in slot 139. Not urgent, but hardly pointless.
They robbed the room for Caelen Carson here, a fall nobody at the table saw coming. They walked in needing this and walked out with it.
Somehow Steele Chambers was still sitting there in No. 222, and they pounced on premier linebacker value. Stacking talent where they were already deep.