2024 Draft Review
May 3, 2024
By Noonefromtampa
Washington’s draft is over and undrafted free agents have been signed. It is now time to review the picks the team made. The immediate impression of this draft that they really went after athletic players who were impactful in some respect in college. While it takes several years to fully evaluate and grade a draft, my immediate take was this was at least a B+ level draft class. How did my mock draft compare to the actual draft? Let’s take a look.
The drafted position summary looks like this:
| Position | Noone | Commanders |
| Quarterback | 1 | 1 |
| Defensive Tackle | 0 | 1 |
| Edge/Defensive End | 1 | 1 |
| Cornerback | 1 | 1 |
| Safety | 1 | 1 |
| Wide Receiver | 1 | 1 |
| Offensive Tackle | 2 | 1 |
| Tight End | 1 | 1 |
| Linebacker | 1 | 1 |
So, I was fairly spot on position-wise but off in the round in which some positions were addressed.
Round 1 – Pick 2
Noone’s Pick – Jayden Daniels, QB
Commander’s Pick – Jayden Daniels, QB
There wasn’t as much mystery around this pick as there was made out to be. Daniels was really the focus of the team all along. The Commanders took the more polished player over the possibility of greater development by another player in the draft. Daniels put in a lot of offseason work prior to his last college campaign and the results showed for themselves. If he can similarly commit himself this offseason, the benefits to Washington could be tremendous considering the quarterback history of this team over the last ten years. I think the team will try to bring Daniels along slowly and make sure he is ready when he becomes the starting quarterback.
Round 2
Noone’s Picks
Pick 36 – Kingsley Suamataia, OT
Pick 40 – Darius Robinson, Edge
Commander’s Picks
Pick 36 – Jer’Zhan Newton, DT
Pick 50 – Mike Sainristil, CB
Pick 53 – Ben Sinnott, TE
As I wrote in the Draft Day article about possible trades, the Commanders tried to trade back into the first round but were unsuccessful. They were, however, successful with a trade down with the Eagles of all teams. Washington traded their second round, 40th pick, third round 78th pick, and fifth round 152nd pick to Philadelphia for their second round 50th and 53rd picks and fifth round 161st pick.
Prior to that trade, Washington picked Newton with the 36th pick. Robinson went 13 picks earlier than I projected to the Cardinals at pick 27. Four tackles were still available for all of Washington’s second round picks: Patrick Paul (went at 55), Blake Fisher (59), Roger Rosengarten (62) and Suamataia (63). However, with a first-round grade on Newton, Peters and front office staff could not pass up the value and talent in this pick. Time will tell if one of second round picks should have been used on the offensive line.
Newton fits the bill of what Dan Quinn is looking for in a football player, violent and disruptive. I expect him to be a regular in the defensive tackle rotation, probably at the expense of snaps for Phidarian Mathis.
With the next two picks the team took Sainristil, a very productive cornerback from the National Championship Michigan team, and Sinnott, a tight end who likes to hit people and catches passes. I had these two positions addressed in the third round, even projecting Sinnott to the team. I like both picks because both will likely get snaps from day 1 of the season.
From the draft moves, you can see the type of plan Peters built for revitalizing the Commanders: bring in a quality veteran free agent player like Zack Ertz on a short-term deal, and then draft their eventual replacement. This is a huge change from prior regimes and their approach to roster management.
Round 3
Noone’s Picks
Pick 67 – D.J. James, CB
Pick 78 – Ben Sinnott, TE
Pick 100 – Blake Fisher, OT
Commander’s Picks
Pick 67 – Brandon Coleman, OT
Pick 100 – Luke McCaffrey, WR
The Commanders addressed the tackle position in this round. Coleman was a multi-year starter for TCU and figures to be given a chance to compete for the left tackle spot on the line. He is a former team captain, which is another trait a lot of Washington’s picks share. In fact, six of nine picks served in that capacity in college. Coleman played very well when healthy, allowing only one sack on 723 pass protection snaps in 2023. Many teams projected him as a left guard which he also played in college. Therefore, there is a small question mark on this pick, whether Coleman is up to the challenge of being an NFL left tackle.
While I addressed wide receiver in the fifth round, Washington grabbed the brother of Christian McCaffrey. Luke, a former quarterback is a big, 6’2” slot wide receiver. Jamison Crowder, who is an excellent route runner, was brought back for that role this year, but once again thinking forward, McCaffrey projects to be his eventual replacement. He is still learning the wide receiver position but his offensive knowledge from being a quarterback should help with that.
D.J. James lasted until the 192nd pick in the sixth round, when he was drafted by the Seahawks, so I was really off on where he would go in the draft.
Round 5
Noone’s Picks
Pick 139 – Malik Washington, WR
Pick 152 – Tykee Smith, S
Commander’s Picks
Pick 139 – Jordan Magee, LB
Pick 161 – Dominique Hampton, S
The team addressed the need for another young linebacker who can play on special teams by drafting Magee. He is a converted safety from Temple at 6’1”, 222 pounds, who was a team captain and played linebacker the last two seasons in college. In 2023, he had 80 tackles, including 14 tackles for loss and 3.5 sacks.
Hampton is a big safety at 6’2”, 215 pounds, being one of those long, quick players in the secondary that Dan Quinn likes. In his two years as a starter in college, he had 151 tackles and 11 passes defended. He will compete for a backup spot in the group that contains Jeremy Chinn, who is similarly sized and also on a one-year deal.
Malik Washington went to the Dolphins with the 184th pick in round 6. Tykee Smith went to the Buccaneers with the 89th pick in round 3.
Round 7 – Pick 222
Noone’s Pick – Omar Speights, LB
Commander’s Pick – Javontae Jean-Baptiste, DE
After spending four years at Ohio State, Jean-Baptiste moved to Notre Dame where he had 10.5 tackles for loss, including five sacks. He will be a developmental project competing against KJ Henry, Andre Jones Jr., and Joshua Pryor for a roster spot.
Omar Speights signed with the Rams as an undrafted free agent.
Sources: commanders.com, pro-football-reference.com, nfl.com