We go through the Commanders wants vs needs in the NFL Draft. Who should they target?
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00:00The NFL draft is two weeks from today.
00:03The Commanders hold pick number 29.
00:06They've got five overall selections.
00:09One of the reasons there's a really good chance that they may trade back out of the first round altogether.
00:15For Washington, their total draft picks going in.
00:1929, that's in round one.
00:2161 overall, that is in round two.
00:24Then 128, which is actually the end of round four.
00:28And then 205, end of round six.
00:33245, end of round seven.
00:35So they have what is effectively two picks before the end of the fourth round.
00:39So they got some work to do.
00:41But I wanted to go through some of their needs.
00:44And I want to play need or want, Danny.
00:47So let's prioritize how big of a need they are.
00:52We'll start with cornerback.
00:56They did add a starter.
00:58If you kind of squint and tilt your head to the side this offseason.
01:03But they did not add a unquestioned every down boundary corner, right?
01:09They're going to rely upon the growth internally of Marshawn Lattimore being better than he was last year.
01:16I think they're going to rely upon Mikey Sanra still, either in the nickel or outside.
01:22But do you think that returning Noah Igbenogany, keeping him in the mix, going and getting Jonathan Jones from New England, who's the one starting caliber player they brought in, makes this more of a want?
01:35Or is it still a need to get a corner early in the draft?
01:38If they're right, it's a want.
01:40If Danny's right, it's a need.
01:42I'm not buying it.
01:43What makes you think they think it's a want?
01:46They didn't go get a marquee free agent in that regard.
01:49They didn't get an edge either.
01:50I'll bet they know it's a need.
01:51Well, I think they are more confident in Marshawn Lattimore and their group than I am.
01:55I am not confident in Lattimore at all.
01:57I think this is a, I don't want to say a fool's errand because he's got some pretty good deposits in the bank, but it's been a long time since those things were there.
02:05So to me, I think they could really use a young, strong, outstanding corner.
02:10I think they passed that up in free agency.
02:12I think Jones is fine, but I think there were a couple stars that they could have had for a reasonable amount.
02:17They didn't do that.
02:19I think that they're banking on Lattimore being really good so that they have solved the number one corner spot.
02:24But I could still see them taking a corner in the second round if they trade back.
02:29I think they acknowledge and know that they're not good enough at that position to be a great defense.
02:36I'm going to put it as a need still.
02:39That's not to say I don't like going and getting Jonathan Jones from New England.
02:43I thought that was a nice addition, but he is a nice role-playing depth piece.
02:48That's what I think a lot of their corners are.
02:50I'm not sold on Lattimore either for the record.
02:52I love San Ristil, but I want him inside where Igbenogany was awesome last year.
02:57They could actually have a really good nickel situation.
03:00Between Igbenogany, San Ristil, and Jones who played a lot in the nickel, I think they're going to be pretty set there.
03:07That's a pretty good depth.
03:09Yeah, they're going to be flexible there.
03:10It's the boundary where I worry, so I'll say need.
03:13One out of ten, how much of a need would you rank it?
03:15Six.
03:17I'm going to put it at a seven.
03:18We're kind of in lockstep.
03:19All right, next on the list, Edge.
03:22This is a need.
03:23It just is.
03:24I don't mind having Cleland Farrell, Dorrance Armstrong, Dietrich Wise.
03:28I like having those guys, but I need one.
03:31I need that pass rusher.
03:33I need that difference maker.
03:35I got solid.
03:36Solid is covered.
03:37Armstrong, I think, is going to be even a little bit better than solid.
03:40For me, Farrell, Wise, and company, that's stay at home, do your job, set the edge, right shoulder or the outside shoulder of the tackle, blah, blah, blah.
03:48Nothing dynamic there.
03:50I could use a dynamic pass rusher.
03:51I think that's a major need.
03:52Yeah, I don't even need to add anything because I think it's not even debatable.
03:56Probably didn't need to put it on the list.
03:57I guess the more interesting question is how big of a need, 1 to 10.
04:01I would list it as a 10.
04:03I mean, to me, if you start this year with what they have right now as their defensive ends, they did a bad job at that position.
04:12And I love this front office, and I love Adam Peters.
04:15That's a bad job fixing a really important position.
04:19Your double-digit sack guy walked.
04:21You could have paid and kept around if you wanted to.
04:23I know he's not particularly good against the run.
04:26It might be a little bit better stopping the run because of some of the jag edges that you mentioned that they do have around, like Cleland Farrell, who could do an okay job when he's healthy, setting the edge.
04:36But I need some speed.
04:38I need someone who scares you a little bit.
04:40I need someone that an offensive tackle's got to worry about beating them all game long and getting two, two-and-a-half sacks.
04:47They do not have that guy.
04:49So their starter opposite Armstrong, and starter maybe isn't even the best word.
04:53The guy that's going to get the most pass-rushing work opposite Armstrong better not be on this roster yet, in my opinion.
04:59It's a 10 out of 10 need for me.
05:01Yeah, I'm feeding out of the same trough.
05:039, 10, however you want to slice it up, it's a big one.
05:06All right.
05:07Need or want commander's positions of what we'll call problem areas where they haven't been very strong.
05:15Let's go running back.
05:18I view it as a need.
05:22Again, I don't know that they do.
05:24Now, maybe I'm wrong.
05:25Maybe I'll be proven incorrect here on this.
05:27But I think they like this style.
05:29I think they like this thumping, let's have Brian Robinson.
05:34If Brian Robinson can't go, let's have somebody like him go.
05:36To me, they are not majoring in the scat back or the pass catcher.
05:40They feel like they've got that solved with Austin Eckler.
05:43I'm worried that they're going to kind of run back the same room.
05:46I think they might view it as a want.
05:48I view it as a need.
05:48I think they need something dynamic back there.
05:50So this is a want for sure, but it's something I want badly.
05:55Like, they need the kind of guy that I want, if I could complicate this, to be the type of offense that I want them to be.
06:02They could have the exact same running backs right now, go into the season, and be fine.
06:10But there's nothing wrong with Robinson and Eckler and McNichols.
06:15We just saw it.
06:16There's nothing wrong with that.
06:18But you're a methodical, thumping, uninspiring, unexciting offense.
06:26I want speed.
06:27I want fast.
06:28I want scary.
06:29I want game-breaking, and that's where, for me, running back should be like an eight need for them.
06:37But it is a want because they kept everybody on their roster, and they brought some of the guys back as well, like McNichols.
06:43That's what I worry about, is that it's a crowded room that this new scat back is walking into.
06:48So I don't know.
06:49It seems to me they go, no, no, we like that group.
06:51And maybe they're viewing it as the biggest problem with our run game down the stretch, basically the entire second half of the year, minus that Tennessee game.
07:00Maybe it was offensive line related.
07:01Maybe it was teams weren't threatened that they were going to go deep, and teams schemed a certain way against us, and that's going to be different now.
07:07I have no idea.
07:08I know that it was hard to watch those guys take handoffs and not go anywhere.
07:12There's only going to be two running backs that go in the first round, Ashton Gentry from Boise State, who just had one of the great years ever, and Amarion Hampton out of North Carolina.
07:22Hampton's supposed to go somewhere in the teens, early 20s, will go before Washington at this point, based on the helium he's getting as a candidate.
07:31After that, I don't think anybody else goes before several picks into the second round.
07:35So someone like Travion Henderson, who could be a home run hitter out of Ohio State, I think that's a player Washington could take if they traded back into the mid-30s.
07:44Quinshawn Judkins, also from Ohio State, another guy that could make some sense.
07:50But I would even wait into the mid-rounds.
07:52I think that's generally where you do your best in terms of value at running back, whether that's Cam Scadaboo from Arizona State, if they want a bigger, more physical guy.
08:01Again, I want speed, so I think you could grab someone like Bashul Tootin out of Virginia Tech, the 205-pound burner, who had the fastest 40-time at the combine at the position.
08:12I don't know what people are saying now, but I don't know why you couldn't get him in the mid-to-late third round, something like that.
08:17And there are guys like him, right?
08:19Woody Marks, USC, Jaden Blue, Texas, Marcus Yams, Delaware.
08:23Caleb Johnson out of Iowa, I like a lot.
08:24Yeah.
08:25Pick your fastest guy, look at the 40 times, watch the tape, whatever.
08:28But go get me some speed.
08:30I think they'll do it.
08:31I just think it's going to be later than people want.
08:32Maybe it's a fifth-round running back, something like that.
08:34And that's my wheelhouse, by the way.
08:35I don't want to say I would do it every year, but I would do that a lot.
08:38Every couple of years, it's find me, I'm blanking on the guy's name, but the super-fast guy out of the middle of nowhere, Colorado, that ran great for Denver for a couple of months and then got banged up and then we never heard from him again.
08:51That kind of player is what I would major in.
08:54The late rounds of the draft, I'd find the hyper-quick, hyper-athletic running back that may not have had the great production.