2023 Road to the Draft – Part 9
March 14, 2023
By Noonefromtampa
The sale of the franchise is moving along with the sales price “looking good” and potential new owners that the league will “love”. I will believe all that when the sale is announced, and the NFL approves the new owners. The current owners’ stewardship has taken this franchise from good to desperate to laughingstock. The fanbase’s biggest hope is that the new ownership will take a serious approach to the team, invest in facilities and a stadium, create a positive game day experience for fans and yes, maybe even have some winning seasons.
Let’s Talk Comp Picks
The San Francisco 49ers won the compensatory picks race. They were awarded three third round picks, for other teams hiring three of their minority coaches (Robert Saleh, DeMeco Ryans and Mike McDaniel) for head coaching positions. The 49ers ended up with seven total picks awarded to them. The Commanders, as projected, were awarded two compensatory, picks a third rounder (#97) and a sixth rounder (#215). The final draft pick positions for the Commanders are:
- Round 1 overall pick 16
- Round 2 overall pick 47
- Round 3 overall pick 97
- Round 4 overall pick 118
- Round 5 overall pick 150
- Round 6 overall pick 193
- Round 6 overall pick 215
- Round 7 overall pick 233
Mock Draft Data
The number of mock drafts is up 20 this week to 199. The Commanders will have the 16th overall pick in the first round. The position picked by descending frequency is:
| Position | Picked Count | Picked % | Last Week % | % Change |
| CB | 118 | 59.30% | 61.45% | -2.16% |
| OT | 26 | 13.07% | 11.17% | 1.89% |
| QB | 16 | 8.04% | 10.06% | -2.02% |
| IOL | 14 | 7.04% | 5.03% | 2.01% |
| DL | 8 | 4.02% | 3.35% | 0.67% |
| LB | 8 | 4.02% | 3.35% | 0.67% |
| TE | 7 | 3.52% | 3.35% | 0.17% |
| RB | 1 | 0.50% | 1.12% | -0.61% |
| WR | 1 | 0.50% | 1.12% | -0.61% |
| Edge | 0 | 0.00% | 0.00% | 0.00% |
| S | 0 | 0.00% | 0.00% | 0.00% |
| Grand Total | 199 | 100% | 20 |
The big gainers this week were interior offensive line, which was up 2.01%, and offensive tackle, which was up 1.89%. The largest decrease this week was quarterback, which was down 2.02%. Incredibly, defensive line was up 0.67%. I don’t understand people continuing to pick a position where the team has four first round picks invested.
The players mock picked to the Commanders at the 16th pick are in descending frequency:
| Player | Position | School | Picked Count | Picked % |
| Joey Porter Jr | CB | Penn State | 39 | 20.00% |
| Devon Witherspoon | CB | Illinois | 25 | 12.82% |
| Christian Gonzalez | CB | Oregon | 19 | 9.74% |
| O’Cyrus Torrence | IOL | Florida | 13 | 6.67% |
| Anthony Richardson | QB | Florida | 11 | 5.64% |
| Broderick Jones | OT | Georgia | 11 | 5.64% |
| Kelee Ringo | CB | Georgia | 10 | 5.13% |
| Brian Branch | CB | Alabama | 9 | 4.62% |
| Peter Skoronski | OT | Northwestern | 7 | 3.59% |
| Cam Smith | CB | South Carolina | 7 | 3.59% |
| Bryan Bresee | DL | Clemson | 6 | 3.08% |
| Will Levis | QB | Kentucky | 5 | 2.56% |
| Deonte Banks | CB | Maryland | 4 | 2.05% |
| Trenton Simpson | LB | Clemson | 4 | 2.05% |
| Michael Mayer | TE | Notre Dame | 4 | 2.05% |
| Darnell Wright | OT | Tennessee | 3 | 1.54% |
| Paris Johnson Jr | OT | Ohio State | 3 | 1.54% |
| Drew Sanders | LB | Arkansas | 2 | 1.03% |
| Emmanuel Forbes | CB | Mississippi State | 2 | 1.03% |
| Nolan Smith | LB | Georgia | 2 | 1.03% |
| Jalin Hyatt | WR | Tennessee | 1 | 0.51% |
| Dawand Jones | OT | Ohio State | 1 | 0.51% |
| John Michael Schmitz | IOL | Minnesota | 1 | 0.51% |
| Mike Morris | DL | Michigan | 1 | 0.51% |
| Darnell Washington | TE | Georgia | 1 | 0.51% |
| Calijah Kancry | DL | Pittsburgh | 1 | 0.51% |
| Dalton Kincaid | TE | Utah | 1 | 0.51% |
| Bijan Robinson | RB | Texas | 1 | 0.51% |
| Anton Harrison | OT | Oklahoma | 1 | 0.51% |
| Grand Total | 195 | 100.00% |
O’Cyrus Torrence jumped up over 1.5% this week. Paris Johnson and Darnell Wright were up almost a full percentage point this week, which helped drive the offensive line overall. Joey Porter Jr. remained the top pick for the Commanders.
Joey Porter still leads this list, but Devon Witherspoon overtook Christian Gonzalez for second place on the list, increasing over 2%. Another big riser at cornerback was Deonta Banks of Maryland, who was up 1.5%.
Mock Freshness
| Age | Age % |
| New | 32.66% |
| 1 Week Old | 12.56% |
| 2 Weeks Old | 12.06% |
| 3 Weeks Old | 16.08% |
| 4 Weeks Old | 7.04% |
| 5 Weeks Old | 4.02% |
| 6 Weeks Old | 5.53% |
| 7 Weeks Old | 1.01% |
| 8 Weeks Old | 2.01% |
| 9 Weeks Old | 3.52% |
| 10 Weeks Old | 1.01% |
| 11 Weeks Old | 0.50% |
| 13+Weeks Old | 2.01% |
| Grand Total | 100.00% |
Trades
There were two new trades mocked this past week, one to trade up for a quarterback and one to trade back for an offensive lineman. The trade for Broderick Jones makes a lot of sense with Washington picking up an additional fourth round pick.
| Notes | Trade Direction | Trade Position | Trade Team | Player |
| No details | Up | 6 | DET | Anthony Richardson |
| SEA gets #16, WSH get #20, #123 | Down | 20 | SEA | Broderick Jones |
Sources: nflmockdraftdatabase.com, grindingthemocks.com, nfldraftbuzz.com, overthcap.com, spotrac.com, pro-football-reference.com
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