2024 Road to the Draft – Part 12
April 5, 2023
By Noonefromtampa
Updates
Washington continues to sign camp bodies and players who if they make the team would be roles players.
The first wave of organized team activities for teams with new coaches started Tuesday, April 2nd and will end up with a minicamp in June. The Commanders will have one voluntary minicamp April 22-24 and a mandatory minicamp June 11-13. Therefore, expect to see an increase in social media posts about players and coaches over the coming weeks.
Conjecture by some draft prognosticators about Washington and J.J. McCarthy, and voila: he appears on the list of possible picks this week.
Draft Data
The mock draft count is 302 this week, up 18 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 52% 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 | 288 | 95.36% | 95.07% | 0.29% |
| OT | 8 | 2.65% | 2.82% | -0.17% |
| WR | 3 | 0.99% | 1.06% | -0.06% |
| Edge | 3 | 0.99% | 0.70% | 0.29% |
| CB | 0 | 0.00% | 0.35% | -0.35% |
| 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 | 302 | 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 | 131 | 43.38% |
| Drake Maye | QB | North Carolina | 129 | 42.72% |
| Caleb Williams | QB | USC | 19 | 6.29% |
| J.J. McCarthy | QB | Michigan | 9 | 2.98% |
| Joe Alt | OT | Notre Dame | 5 | 1.66% |
| Marvin Harrison Jr. | WR | Ohio State | 3 | 0.99% |
| Dallas Turner | Edge | Alabama | 2 | 0.66% |
| Olumuyiwa Fashanu | OT | Penn State | 2 | 0.66% |
| Taliese Fuaga | OT | Oregon State | 1 | 0.33% |
| Laiatu Latu | Edge | UCLA | 1 | 0.33% |
| Grand Total | 302 | 100.00% |
This week Jayden Daniels overtook Drake Maye by two-thirds of a percentage point. J.J. McCarthy pops in at nearly 3%.
Thoughts
Assuming Washington does draft a quarterback in the first round, what will they do with their second-round picks? Their second-round picks are numbers 36 and 40. I think at least one of them will be for an offensive lineman. I also do not preclude a trade back into the first round to grab a left tackle such as Amarius Mims or Tyler Guyton.
Looking at the two picks in round 2 who would the team be most likely to draft? Here are some of the players I think could be on the Commanders board in descending order of position addressed in draft.
Offensive Line
- Jordan Morgan, tackle, Arizona
- Kingsley Suamataia, tackle, BYU
- Graham Barton, guard, Duke
- Zack Frazier, center/guard, West Virginia
- Cooper Beebe, guard, Kansas State
Cornerback
- Mike Sainristil, Michigan
- T.J. Tampa, Iowa State
- Kamari Lassiter, Georgia
- Ennis Rakestraw, Missouri
Edge
- Darius Robinson, Missouri
- Bralen Trice, Washington
- Chris Braswell, Alabama
Wide Receiver
- Troy Franklin, Oregon
- Adonai Mitchell, Texas
- Keon Coleman, Florida State
Some might question wide receiver, but the roster lacks a competent “big” receiver and those three fit the bill.
The other possibilities include Ja’Tavion Sanders, tight end, Texas and Edgerrin Cooper, linebacker, Texas A&M.
Those are 18 different players that might get their name called on day two of the draft by the Commanders.
Sources: nflmockdraftdatabase.com, nfldraftbuzz.com, overthecap.com, sports-reference.com