Extreme Commanders

skinsinparadise wrote: Tue Apr 15, 2025 9:24 am

The Consigliere wrote: Mon Apr 14, 2025 2:04 pm

skinsinparadise wrote: Mon Apr 07, 2025 2:08 pm

RB Kaleb Johnson, Iowa

Johnson didn’t quite have the athletic showing at the NFL Scouting Combine some expected, but his name still sneakily carries first-round potential simply because his tape at Iowa shows that there aren't many running backs with his combination of size and speed. Not great at beating stacked boxes.

Johnson’s height (6-foot-1), weight (224 pounds), wingspan (78 1/2 inches) and hand size (9 5/8 inches) were all above the 78th percentile for the position. His 4.57-second 40-yard dash placed him in just the 46th percentile, but weight-adjusting that score makes it just fine. Still, some were expecting more, and because of that, his stock seemed to cool.

But make no mistake, this is a big, explosive back who, behind a zone-heavy blocking scheme, could be a 1,000-yard back early in his rookie contract. Teams such as the Broncos and Steelers (teams that ran a heavy amount of zone in 2024) could at least consider him on Day 1. The Commanders, who deploy more of an even split between zone and man/gap run blocking, are also an intriguing landing spot.

https://www.pff.com/news/draft-2025-nfl ... ntent=null

My big concerns with him are athleticism (not great, again) and I don't like that he did very little until his final year, and didn't really seem involved at all in the passing game. So, not sure what we have in him, but honestly, after Jeanty, and Hampton, all the backs have issues to some extent or another. It's just two of the guys you have have multiple issues in places that would freak me out (Skattebo with unplayable athletic traits/speed, Kaleb with similar but better athleticism issues, and a really odd lack of relevance until year 3).

But yeah, after Hampton and Jeanty are gone, everyone has an issue. Trey looks like a com back, and he's old, should have come out last year, Judkins doesn't play like a 4.4 rb, Kaleb was a nobody until last fall and is not an elite athlete, Skattebo is an unplayable athlete, for me, Sampson is a seemingly boom/bust guy, Tuten's pretty small, but a freak athlete, Giddins look interesting. but yeah, it's basically a draft with 2 RB's you can draft, set it, forget it, and then everybody is scary in a different way, from the slugs (Gordon, Neal, Skattebo), to the scary athlete types (Sampson, Tuten), to the mid looking guy in K. Johnson, to the way way way too freaking old in Harvey.

No Hampton and no Jeanty means we'll have no idea, but the '26 class for now looks so god awful, they should probably pull the trigger now. My guy would be Judkins, after that either Kaleb, or trade down for Giddins, or Sampson or Tuten, give me the athlete basically, but yeah, I'm not here convinced, the silly Breece Hall rumors I would do in a second (if cheap), he's a top 5 RB level talent when healthy, mega elite and to illustrate how old RJ Harvey is, he is older than Breece Hall right now, by 9 freaking months. So yeah, if we could pry Breece Hall off of them I'd do it without a second thought.

Among the RBs you mention. IMO

Henderson is 22, not that old. Strength -- explosive runner, fast, good pass catcher, good pass protector. Weakness: rotational back not a featured one, injuries.

Kaleb Johnson: His speed is fine for a back that size. Strength: Great vision in open field, good stiff arm and can break some long runs more so than most in the class. Weakness: so so as a pass catcher, not hot as a pass protector, more of a zone than gap runner in spite of his size so might need to be a scheme fit.

Skattebo: Similar speed to Bucky Irving, Kryen Williams. Speed isn't everything with the RB position especially if you major in physicality and contact balance and big time so like he does. Great hands -- major weapon in the passing game. Weakness: doesn't have breakaway speed, meh as a pass protector.

Tuten: Strengths: great speed, homerun threat, is feisty as to breaking tackles. Weaknesses: unproven as a pass catcher, bad pass protector, fumbles, most of his runs are to the outside, can he do it in between the tackles?

Giddens: Strengths: breakaway speed, has plenty of big runs, has some wiggle-east-west ability. Weaknesses: so so as a pass catcher, meh as a pass protector

Sampson: Strengths: breakaway speed, some wicked moves including a nice spin move, tough runner for a dude his size who is good in the red zone. Weakness: for a fast dude he doesn't have many breakaway runs, so so hands, so so pass protector.

RJ Harvey. Now he's indeed old. Strengths: All around back, can break tackles and can take it to the house, and good pass catcher. Weaknesses: pass protection. He takes a lot of his runs, arguably too much, to the outside will that work in the NFL?

Judkins: Strengths: physical runner who can grind yards against stacked boxes, very athletic for his dude his size, decent pass catcher, good pass protector. Weaknesses: he's not like for example Kaleb Johnson (raw speed isn't everything) as for breaking long runs -- once he gets to the 2nd level, he seems to get caught. Vision is questionable at times.

skinsinparadise wrote: Tue Apr 15, 2025 9:24 am

The Consigliere wrote: Mon Apr 14, 2025 2:04 pm

skinsinparadise wrote: Mon Apr 07, 2025 2:08 pm

RB Kaleb Johnson, Iowa

Johnson didn’t quite have the athletic showing at the NFL Scouting Combine some expected, but his name still sneakily carries first-round potential simply because his tape at Iowa shows that there aren't many running backs with his combination of size and speed. Not great at beating stacked boxes.

Johnson’s height (6-foot-1), weight (224 pounds), wingspan (78 1/2 inches) and hand size (9 5/8 inches) were all above the 78th percentile for the position. His 4.57-second 40-yard dash placed him in just the 46th percentile, but weight-adjusting that score makes it just fine. Still, some were expecting more, and because of that, his stock seemed to cool.

But make no mistake, this is a big, explosive back who, behind a zone-heavy blocking scheme, could be a 1,000-yard back early in his rookie contract. Teams such as the Broncos and Steelers (teams that ran a heavy amount of zone in 2024) could at least consider him on Day 1. The Commanders, who deploy more of an even split between zone and man/gap run blocking, are also an intriguing landing spot.

https://www.pff.com/news/draft-2025-nfl ... ntent=null

My big concerns with him are athleticism (not great, again) and I don't like that he did very little until his final year, and didn't really seem involved at all in the passing game. So, not sure what we have in him, but honestly, after Jeanty, and Hampton, all the backs have issues to some extent or another. It's just two of the guys you have have multiple issues in places that would freak me out (Skattebo with unplayable athletic traits/speed, Kaleb with similar but better athleticism issues, and a really odd lack of relevance until year 3).

But yeah, after Hampton and Jeanty are gone, everyone has an issue. Trey looks like a com back, and he's old, should have come out last year, Judkins doesn't play like a 4.4 rb, Kaleb was a nobody until last fall and is not an elite athlete, Skattebo is an unplayable athlete, for me, Sampson is a seemingly boom/bust guy, Tuten's pretty small, but a freak athlete, Giddins look interesting. but yeah, it's basically a draft with 2 RB's you can draft, set it, forget it, and then everybody is scary in a different way, from the slugs (Gordon, Neal, Skattebo), to the scary athlete types (Sampson, Tuten), to the mid looking guy in K. Johnson, to the way way way too freaking old in Harvey.

No Hampton and no Jeanty means we'll have no idea, but the '26 class for now looks so god awful, they should probably pull the trigger now. My guy would be Judkins, after that either Kaleb, or trade down for Giddins, or Sampson or Tuten, give me the athlete basically, but yeah, I'm not here convinced, the silly Breece Hall rumors I would do in a second (if cheap), he's a top 5 RB level talent when healthy, mega elite and to illustrate how old RJ Harvey is, he is older than Breece Hall right now, by 9 freaking months. So yeah, if we could pry Breece Hall off of them I'd do it without a second thought.

Among the RBs you mention. IMO

Henderson is 22, not that old. Strength -- explosive runner, fast, good pass catcher, good pass protector. Weakness: rotational back not a featured one, injuries.

Kaleb Johnson: His speed is fine for a back that size. Strength: Great vision in open field, good stiff arm and can break some long runs more so than most in the class. Weakness: so so as a pass catcher, not hot as a pass protector, more of a zone than gap runner in spite of his size so might need to be a scheme fit.

Skattebo: Similar speed to Bucky Irving, Kryen Williams. Speed isn't everything with the RB position especially if you major in physicality and contact balance and big time so like he does. Great hands -- major weapon in the passing game. Weakness: doesn't have breakaway speed, meh as a pass protector.

Tuten: Strengths: great speed, homerun threat, is feisty as to breaking tackles. Weaknesses: unproven as a pass catcher, bad pass protector, fumbles, most of his runs are to the outside, can he do it in between the tackles?

Giddens: Strengths: breakaway speed, has plenty of big runs, has some wiggle-east-west ability. Weaknesses: so so as a pass catcher, meh as a pass protector

Sampson: Strengths: breakaway speed, some wicked moves including a nice spin move, tough runner for a dude his size who is good in the red zone. Weakness: for a fast dude he doesn't have many breakaway runs, so so hands, so so pass protector.

RJ Harvey. Now he's indeed old. Strengths: All around back, can break tackles and can take it to the house, and good pass catcher. Weaknesses: pass protection. He takes a lot of his runs, arguably too much, to the outside will that work in the NFL?

Judkins: Strengths: physical runner who can grind yards against stacked boxes, very athletic for his dude his size, decent pass catcher, good pass protector. Weaknesses: he's not like for example Kaleb Johnson (raw speed isn't everything) as for breaking long runs -- once he gets to the 2nd level, he seems to get caught. Vision is questionable at times.

I wrote a nice big response to it yesterday and for whatever reason this site sometimes logs me out in the middle of trying to post stuff so it all went out into the ether. In lieu of that, I'm just gonna post short summaries of my thoughts.

On the particular players:

Henderson: Agreed, he's too old for me and my interests in dynasty, but he's young enough to be viable as a day 2 pick. Use that pick and the rookie contract captures his age 23, 24, 25 and 26 seasons. I can live with that. I'd also add that he was a legit stud bell cow as an 18/19 year old at OSU in '21, and then they made him a committee back after that. I can only imagine he got dinged up repeatedly, but never suffered a serious injury, otherwise I do not understand why they cut down his touches because his best production and probably efficiency especially for age, was that '21 season. He's plenty athletic, and to me in a lot of ways is the one back after the first two, that fits what we want (bell cow ability, and game breaking athleticism you can see on the field).

Kaleb Johnson: He's basically a floor pick for me. I can't see him ever being elite, or a genuine difference maker, but his ceiling play is probably a rb that produces similar along the lines of maybe David Montgomery? My big concern is that I just don't see anything all that great. He's basically drafting Brian Robinson again, but probably a less athletic version. I'd be inclined to wait on RB for more high risk, low floor, higher ceiling guys like Sampson, and Brashard Smith etc. I just think we're getting more of the same. So I'd pass.

Skattebo: This is the part that really bugged me about my write up disappearing because I explained in detail about how I was well aware that Skattebo was a monster in '24. He's from Sac State, just down the road from me (more than that, but out west 110 miles away is nothing, and I live in the Lake Tahoe area (about 35 minutes from Squaw Valley/Palisades)) and he absolutely killed it in competition against previously non-Pac-10 squads like Mississippi State, Texas Tech through the air, murdering a 9-1 BYU, through the duel in the Desert with Arizona, crushing it versus Iowa State in the Conference Championship and then being the key element of Arizona state's comeback in a double OT heartbreaker in the semi-finals. It's why there's a tiny part of me that wonders if he's just turning it up a level on the field, but in the end, I tend to think he's just a AAAA superstar talent who is jumping so far in level that his athletic limitations will make his abilities untransferable. But am I leaving the door slightly ajar? Yes, but I also wouldn't land him because my concerns with the 4.65 threshold are that big (again, i don't care so much your specific time as I do whether you cut inside or outside athletic threshold requirements because historically nearly all RB's, and TE's that hit, are at those specific athletic profiles, WR is less correlated, although it also has thresholds). But the door is a teeny bit ajar, but yeah, it would be in a trade down for like a 5th or later, so likely he'd be gone by then.

Judkins: I'm resting my head a bit on that 1700 yard, 15 catch, 17 TD freshman season in the SEC. The fact that he could put up 2700 yards, 300 through the air, 30+ TD's as an 18/19 year old in the SEC at Ole Miss is pretty freaking nuts. He's my guy, though I worry the explosive angle may just not be there, just on a track.

Tuten/Giddens/Sampson/Harvey/Brashard:

These are the dart throw/hail mary/grand slam style swings, with Tuten being almost certainly no more than a sattelite, Giddens and Sampson having enough ceiling for me to prefer them at a much lower cost to spending 2nd round capital on Trey, or probably Kaleb (I imagine Kaleb goes 35-75 zone). If you can trade down and get Giddens or Sampson in mid round 3, I definitely prefer that, if you can trade even further down for Brashard, I think about that.

Harvey's age makes him a non-starter for me period, he's going to basically turn 26 around the Super Bowl after his second season, that is just super concerning to me. I'd rather go after the other guys.


I will also note: the other great classes of the past decade after the '09-'14 drought were just so much easier and smarter to play.

In '15 you got your guy early, or forget it.

In '16 it was basically a barren wasteland beyond Zeke and Henry.

In '17 it was super top heavy, and also filled with intriguing round 4 and 5 dart throws (Aaron jones and Marlon Mack, and I think McNichols).

In '18 it was loaded through two rounds (though most ended up busting)

In '19 it just sucked: Josh Jacobs was a pure projection play, Monty was the floor bet grinder, Miles Sanders had the analytical world aflame, with the "he was just stuck behind Saquon," much like Brooks and Bijan in the '24 and '23 classes.

In '20 it was loaded again if a bit top heavy.

'21 and '22 and '23 were classes where you had two guys in each and then a big big drop off.

'24 just flat out sucked with just Brooks with his ACL and Benson with attractive grades.

But '25? Its just freaking weird, you've got 2 guys with first round grades, then you've got a secondary pile that are clearly and emphatically a step down and then speculative guys that almost uniformly lower floors and higher ceilings than the 35-85 guys (Judkins, Kaleb, Trey). So it kinda feels like Jeanty and Hampton are set it and forget its, the 2nd round guys are probably committee guys, or guys with high floors but no stardom in the future, and then it's blind folded prayers.

skinsinparadise wrote: Tue Apr 15, 2025 3:47 pm

PFf guys also love them some RJ Harvey. I bring them up since I know you are mostly about the analytics. I think we got to look at this team not same old same old (no pun intended). But with the lense of winning the SB in the next two years.

And everything is not cut the same. Context is king. Lets say Harvey drops to the late 4th, and he's by far their top RB on their board. You take him if you are looking for a RB at that spot. I know we are accustomed to thinking about hey maybe in 3 years if this or that happens. But IMO we are smack in the window now. Not 2028. Now. So lets say Harvey kills it this year or next and helps win a SB -- I can care less if he's done after that.

In the past, we were building up to the wedding as to the team. We were dating. The wedding was far off. Everything was about what happens later in theory. Now, we are married. I get it came out of nowhere and its not easy to adjust to the 180 or heck maybe even believe it because it happened so unexpectedly and fast. But it did happen and IMO we got to change the mindset.

We are used to all the coaches (sans Gibbs) here speaking of success as some far off future thing. Each coach seem to be selling a 5 year rebuild. Shanny and Rivera flat out said it. Jay not so much to his credit. But the future always seemed later. The feast was years down the road -- not today. But now we are at the buffett --and we can eat.

Said more simply, if you gave me an option A of a B plus level RB that helps win a SB in the next two seasons and then flames out. Or option B, a B level RB, who doesn't help win a SB and we end up short but heck we got 5 seasons out of him. I'll take option A. But if I thought this team was same old same old, I'd want option B.

I'm skeptical, but if you make something cheap enough, I'll look at almost anything. For Harvey to make sense as a value, I'd want to see him somewhere between about 135 and below. W/that age, he might have 2, or a max of 3 prime athletic seasons left if he hits. Not enough for me to justify day 3 draft capital even though he blew the roof off the place at the combine. But if you are offering him as a mid 4th or later? yeah, I might do that. His athletic profile and relative inexperience at the position suggests he might be able to provide more value than one would expect, but w/his age, I need a discount to justify such a selection.

The Consigliere wrote: Wed Apr 16, 2025 3:12 pm

skinsinparadise wrote: Tue Apr 15, 2025 3:47 pm

PFf guys also love them some RJ Harvey. I bring them up since I know you are mostly about the analytics. I think we got to look at this team not same old same old (no pun intended). But with the lense of winning the SB in the next two years.

And everything is not cut the same. Context is king. Lets say Harvey drops to the late 4th, and he's by far their top RB on their board. You take him if you are looking for a RB at that spot. I know we are accustomed to thinking about hey maybe in 3 years if this or that happens. But IMO we are smack in the window now. Not 2028. Now. So lets say Harvey kills it this year or next and helps win a SB -- I can care less if he's done after that.

In the past, we were building up to the wedding as to the team. We were dating. The wedding was far off. Everything was about what happens later in theory. Now, we are married. I get it came out of nowhere and its not easy to adjust to the 180 or heck maybe even believe it because it happened so unexpectedly and fast. But it did happen and IMO we got to change the mindset.

We are used to all the coaches (sans Gibbs) here speaking of success as some far off future thing. Each coach seem to be selling a 5 year rebuild. Shanny and Rivera flat out said it. Jay not so much to his credit. But the future always seemed later. The feast was years down the road -- not today. But now we are at the buffett --and we can eat.

Said more simply, if you gave me an option A of a B plus level RB that helps win a SB in the next two seasons and then flames out. Or option B, a B level RB, who doesn't help win a SB and we end up short but heck we got 5 seasons out of him. I'll take option A. But if I thought this team was same old same old, I'd want option B.

I'm skeptical, but if you make something cheap enough, I'll look at almost anything. For Harvey to make sense as a value, I'd want to see him somewhere between about 135 and below. W/that age, he might have 2, or a max of 3 prime athletic seasons left if he hits. Not enough for me to justify day 3 draft capital even though he blew the roof off the place at the combine. But if you are offering him as a mid 4th or later? yeah, I might do that. His athletic profile and relative inexperience at the position suggests he might be able to provide more value than one would expect, but w/his age, I need a discount to justify such a selection.

Yeah late 4th is where I expect him to go primarily because of his age. They are in window now with Jayden, yolo.

@The Consigliere

Had the same issue. I wrote a long take on these RBs last week but got logged out and it went away so had to summarize it all.

As for Skattebo, if we are going to live and die with his 40, what about his explosion score? 39.5 was almost tops in his class. Is that meaningless? If he wasn't such a weapon out of the backfield, I'd be less interested. But yeah I do think that indeed a RB's will to break tackles accompanied by outstanding contact balance translates. He did it against Texas which arguably has the best defense in college last year, their defense was all about stopping him, yet they couldn't do it.

Have you watched Kaleb Johnson or are you just reading his combine numbers?

Kaleb was a much better back in college than Robinson was. Among other things, Robinson at Alabama with a pedestrian 5 YPC, and a below average 3.3 yards after contact. Kaleb 6.4 per carry, 4.42 yards after contact. And if you watch him, it looks it, when he breaks to that 2nd level, he's hard to catch.

RBs aren't all about of course who is the faster in the track meet. If it were Tuten and Jayden Blue would be going in the first round. Contact balance, vision, agility, stop and go. So many variables. I think it was Josh Norris who if I recall you follow who said that the RAS scores for RB is one of the most meaningless among the positions.

Here are some scouts on him

https://www.golongtd.com/p/part-6-rb-ra ... eing-and-a
4. KALEB JOHNSON, Iowa (6-1, 234, 4.56, 2-3): Third-year junior. Set a freshman record at Iowa with 779 yards rushing. “Lot of explosive runs of 25-plus yards,” one scout said. “Had a few that were 50-plus. Has a burst to run stretch and get downhill. Is able to exploit inside run lanes. Shows good patience for (following) blockers. Capable of running behind his pads and showing leg drive and contact balance.

Me and @GoingCommando among some others would be happy to know, some not so happy I gather that Keim mentioned Skattebo yesterday in his podcast as a RB among others as to person of interest for this team, they'v met with him.

He's not my top want at RB but he's definitely on the list among some others. Am guessing he goes late thirdish?

Skattebo = a more physical Austin Ekeler. He's got top notch quickness, creativity, balance, patience, and vision, but a much more rugged build than Ekeler. This dude is our juiciest mid round opportunity for a do it all workhorse stud back.

Anyone know which running backs we've actually met with? Just Kaleb Johnson?

We know we need a zone running back and that Robinson isn't it. The scheme narrows down the list and, IMO, Johnson and Skattebo are exactly the kind of zone runners we're shopping for. Skattebo will be there when our pick finally comes around in the middle of the draft, Johnson might not be there when we pick in the 60s.

skinsinparadise wrote: Wed Apr 16, 2025 7:07 am

Washington Commanders
Picks: Nos. 29, 61, 128, 205, 245

No team should approach the draft more aggressively than the Commanders. They've already started this process, selling picks to acquire veteran wide receiver Deebo Samuel Sr. and left tackle Laremy Tunsil. Once you make the NFC Championship Game in your rookie quarterback's first season as a pro, you commit. Get the chips to the middle of the table. Trade up. Swing for the stars.

...If a highly rated receiver, offensive lineman or defensive tackle does fall into the Commanders' lap, they should leap at the chance. Again: Adding high-impact, immediate contributors is the name of the game here. Trade up for falling players and take risks on guys with red flags on their eval -- the sort of players who would have gone a round higher if not for injury history or poor production. Draft players you can envision starting -- and mattering -- in January football.

https://www.espn.com/nfl/draft2025/insi ... ions-needs

I don't know if Peters approaches the draft this way. Some of the names I keep seeing linked to us like Josh Conerly are long term project players.

I think good FOs go into the draft with the expectation that it's really a long term team building tool. You have to coach up and develop pretty much all of these guys, with maybe like a 1% exception rate for the Jayden Daniels types.

The way we used the draft to go all in was trading picks for Tunsil and Deebo. I don't think a short term mentality will extend to who we use our picks on in the draft as well. I don't think you get that kind of choice anyway, you just kind of have to pick whoever you have confidence can be a good player. Especially when drafting late in each round.

GoingCommando wrote: Thu Apr 17, 2025 7:26 am

Skattebo = a more physical Austin Ekeler. He's got top notch quickness, creativity, balance, patience, and vision, but a much more rugged build than Ekeler. This dude is our juiciest mid round opportunity for a do it all workhorse stud back.

Anyone know which running backs we've actually met with? Just Kaleb Johnson?

We know we need a zone running back and that Robinson isn't it. The scheme narrows down the list and, IMO, Johnson and Skattebo are exactly the kind of zone runners we're shopping for. Skattebo will be there when our pick finally comes around in the middle of the draft, Johnson might not be there when we pick in the 60s.

They've met with a lot of RBs:

Jeanty (oddly enough), Kaleb, Skattebo, T Brooks, (I think Etienne), Woody Marks, Henderson, Tuten, Blue, Croskey-Merritt, O. Gordon, Jordan James.

As for recent mentions from Keim, (I take the recent ones as the draft approaches more seriously), he's made it clear they really like Henderson and Tuten. And Skattebo is a recent mention.

Answering my own question, I see now that we've either had a T30 or multiple meetings with Ollie Gordon and Tuten too. They are definitely hunting for a zone back.

The most exciting names on our T30 visits for me other than Kaleb are Ezeiruaku and Tre Harris, but I also like that we met with Ashton Gilotte. Gilotte is a mid rounder, but a good player. Maybe coming off a bit of a down season compared to 2023, but I still really like him. Ezeiruaku I love. I think he's the best or second best pure rusher in the class. Way better than a lot of the guys being projected ahead of him. I saw that we traded down I Kipers mock draft and still got him. I don't think that's happening. If we pass on him at 29, I don't think the Chiefs or Eagles will too. As for Tre Harris, I think I posted a bunch about him on old ES before the site got taken down. Long story short, he was one of my favorite prospects heading into the season, and I think the value of his draft stock is really good if we can get him in the second.

I'm intrigued with the Conerly interest. His film is not very impressive, but I'm intrigued by his speed. I think he's quicker than Membou and I think he has a better NFL body than Membou does. I don't love the idea of drafting an OT that needs quite a bit of physical development and work before he can start at 29, especially when a stud like Ezeiruaku might be there. But after a trade down, that's a more palatable value for Conerly. Getting an OL with elite speed for the pipeline would be nice, and even though it kind of feels like we're well off on OL after the Tunsil trade, it's never a good idea to neglect this position. Philly wouldn't.

I'm not as intrigued by all of the Wyatt Milum meetings though. I'm going to watch him again and reassess, but my first impression of him was that he is a super slow and lumbering player who just didn't impress me with his range or accuracy as a run blocker.

GoingCommando wrote: Thu Apr 17, 2025 7:44 am

skinsinparadise wrote: Wed Apr 16, 2025 7:07 am

Washington Commanders
Picks: Nos. 29, 61, 128, 205, 245

No team should approach the draft more aggressively than the Commanders. They've already started this process, selling picks to acquire veteran wide receiver Deebo Samuel Sr. and left tackle Laremy Tunsil. Once you make the NFC Championship Game in your rookie quarterback's first season as a pro, you commit. Get the chips to the middle of the table. Trade up. Swing for the stars.

...If a highly rated receiver, offensive lineman or defensive tackle does fall into the Commanders' lap, they should leap at the chance. Again: Adding high-impact, immediate contributors is the name of the game here. Trade up for falling players and take risks on guys with red flags on their eval -- the sort of players who would have gone a round higher if not for injury history or poor production. Draft players you can envision starting -- and mattering -- in January football.

https://www.espn.com/nfl/draft2025/insi ... ions-needs

I don't know if Peters approaches the draft this way. Some of the names I keep seeing linked to us like Josh Conerly are long term project players.

I think good FOs go into the draft with the expectation that it's really a long term team building tool. You have to coach up and develop pretty much all of these guys, with maybe like a 1% exception rate for the Jayden Daniels types.

The way we used the draft to go all in was trading picks for Tunsil and Deebo. I don't think a short term mentality will extend to who we use our picks on in the draft as well. I don't think you get that kind of choice anyway, you just kind of have to pick whoever you have confidence can be a good player. Especially when drafting late in each round.

I don't think so either for most of that. I only posted that because it flowed with my discussion with someone here about taking players who can help you get to the big dance versus worried about whether their older prospects for their spot -- especially if you can get them at a discount because of their age in the draft. But the larger point for me is drafting an older prospect ala us drafting Terry years back, isn't really a short term move anyway, the dude is still young, we are just talking in relative terms. I prefer younger players at their spots. But if I love a player, I don't live and die with their age and that goes triple when we are talking about the later rounds.

I get the discussion for me was about RB and agree the shelf life is shorter for them. But that cuts both ways considering so many of them have 1 contract runs. And I get that's one of the reasons why some argue don't take one super early. But even playing with that logic, most 4th round picks are busts. So if we are talking hypotetically about taking a RB in the 4th that you are high on, don't let their age deter you IMO.

As for drafting with a long term horizon. Agree to an extent. Also, we don't know how they see these prospects. Not all agree for example that Conerly is that raw, some love his footwork and believe that he just needs to get stronger but is ready now especially in pass protect. Some don't. I haven't really watched him that closely so I don't have a strong opinion one way or another on it. I recall last year Peters liked Coleman much more than you did. And they threw him right to the wolves at LT. So maybe they see him as a long term project, I have no idea, but they might see him as a dude with a strong training camp (and strong weight lifting regimen) as plug and play at RT.

I liked Coleman in the draft last year but as a guard. I think he was fine at LT. But I still think he's better at guard for reasons I discussed last year.