2024 Road to the Draft – Part 13

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April 12, 2023

By Noonefromtampa

Updates

The Commanders have been interviewing potential draft candidates through official Top 30 visits. Every NFL team can invite 30 prospects on-site for a visit which can include medical checkups, formal meetings, and on-field activities/drills. The list of players reported by various sources to have visited with Washington are:

  • Caedan Wallace, Offensive tackle, Penn State
  • Cam Hart, Cornerback, Notre Dame
  • Chop Robinson, Edge rusher, Penn State
  • Elijah Jones, Cornerback, Boston College
  • Ja’Tavion Sanders, Tight end, Texas
  • Javontae Jean-Baptiste, Edge rusher, Notre Dame
  • Jayden Daniels, Quarterback, LSU
  • Jordan Morgan, Offensive tackle, Arizona
  • Kiran Amegadjie, Offensive tackle, Yale
  • Marshawn Kneeland, Edge rusher, Western Michigan
  • Michael Penix Jr., Quarterback, Washington
  • Rod Gattison, Cornerback, Western Carolina
  • Trevin Wallace, Outside linebacker, Kentucky

Draft Data

The mock draft count is 324 this week, up 22 from last week. The Commanders will have the 2nd overall pick in the first round.

The freshness distribution of the mock draft data is that 54% of the mocks tracked has updated in the last three weeks.

The position picked by descending frequency is:

Position Picked Count Picked % Last Week % % Change
QB 311 95.99% 95.36% 0.62%
OT 7 2.16% 2.65% -0.49%
WR 3 0.93% 0.99% -0.07%
Edge 3 0.93% 0.99% -0.07%
CB 0 0.00% 0.00% 0.00%
TE 0 0.00% 0.00% 0.00%
IOL 0 0.00% 0.00% 0.00%
DL 0 0.00% 0.00% 0.00%
LB 0 0.00% 0.00% 0.00%
RB 0 0.00% 0.00% 0.00%
S 0 0.00% 0.00% 0.00%
Grand Total 324 100%  

The players mock picked to the Commanders at the 2nd pick are in descending frequency:

Player Position School Picked Count Picked %
Jayden Daniels QB LSU 152 46.91%
Drake Maye QB North Carolina 128 39.51%
Caleb Williams QB USC 16 4.94%
J.J. McCarthy QB Michigan 15 4.63%
Joe Alt OT Notre Dame 5 1.54%
Marvin Harrison Jr. WR Ohio State 3 0.93%
Olumuyiwa Fashanu OT Penn State 2 0.62%
Dallas Turner Edge Alabama 2 0.62%
Laiatu Latu Edge UCLA 1 0.31%
Grand Total 324 100.00%

This week Jayden Daniels moved almost 7.5% ahead Drake Maye by two-thirds of a percentage point. J.J. McCarthy moved up 1.5%.

Thoughts

Barring some sort of trade on the first day of the draft, day two should be more interesting with the Commanders currently having five picks on day two.

Recently, there has been a lot of conjecture from draft analysts about Washington trading up back into the first round for a left tackle. Doing that would probably cost the Commanders both of their second-round picks, but left tackle is the biggest roster role left on the Washington roster if they use the first round pick on a quarterback.

Last week, I previewed some of the possible round two picks, so this week let’s take a look at some possible third-round picks. Washington has the 67th, 78th and 100th picks in the third round.

Offensive Line

  • Caedan Wallace, Offensive tackle, Penn State
  • Kiran Amegadjie, Offensive tackle, Yale
  • Blake Fisher, Offensive Tackle, Notre Dame
  • Cooper Beebe, Guard, Kansas State
  • Zach Frazier, Center, West Virginia
  • Sedrick Van Pran, Center, Georgia
  • Dominick Puni, Guard, Kansas

Secondary

  • Caelen Carson, Cornerback, Wake Forest
  • Josh Newton, Cornerback, TCU
  • J. James Cornerback, Auburn
  • Mike Sainristil, Cornerback, Michigan
  • Max Melton, Cornerback, Rutgers
  • Cam Hart, Cornerback. Notre Dame
  • Cole Bishop, safety, Utah
  • Calen Bullock, safety, USC

Receivers

  • Cade Stover, Tight end, Ohio State
  • Jermaine Burton, Wide receiver, Alabama
  • Jamari Thrash, Wide receiver, Louisville
  • Johnny Wilson, Wide receiver, Florida State
  • Malik Washington, Wide receiver, Virginia
  • Jaheim Bell, Tight end, Florida State

Defensive Line

  • Michael Hall Jr., Edge, Ohio State
  • Maason Smith, Defensive tackle, LSU
  • Brandon Dorlus, Edge, Oregon
  • Tyler Davis, Defensive tackle, Clemson
  • McKinnley Jackson, Defensive tackle, Texas A&M
  • Braden Fiske, Defensive tackle, Florida State

Linebackers

  • Tommy Eichenberg, Linebacker, Ohio State
  • Cedric Gray, Linebacker, North Carolina
  • Payton Wilson, Linebacker, NC State
  • Junior Colson, Linebacker, Michigan
  • Jaylan Ford, Linebacker, Texas

The Commanders will have to make some intriguing choices on day 2 of the draft. Do they invest more in developing the offensive line, do they get weapons for the new quarterback, or do they draft replacements for some of the free agents that they signed to one-year deals?

I expect the team to draft at least an offensive lineman, cornerback, and wide receiver in these rounds.

Sources: nflmockdraftdatabase.com, nfldraftbuzz.com, overthecap.com, sports-reference.com

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