Commanders 2025 Picks

[fwo40]

Conerly or Simmons was probably the right call at 29. At worst you get an average RT that helps OL depth, at best you get an eventual left tackle replacement in 3-4 years if Tunsil under-performs or wants too much $ on a new contract. Trading back and picking say Ezeiruaku + someone like Ratledge/Ersery would've maybe been more ideal, but no guarantee you get the picks to get a combo like that.

Amos at 61 was solid - I was hoping against hope Johnson would continue to slide, but failing that he seemed as good a prospect as any remaining CB - Gilllotte at Edge was also a way I might have gone.

Royals at 128 seemed to me like the better player all around than Lane, I guess Lane won b/c of special teams? I'm fine with it, and agreed that it was a bigger right now need than RB. (Although I did really like Giddens who went 1/2 rd later.)

Kain seems like another special teams pick. At this point swinging for specials and depth is fine - BUT I would've rather they swung at some Edge pieces - particulary Antwaun Powell-Ryland or Fadil Diggs. One of these guys would have made a really nice late grab.

JCM - meh. Nice story, hopefully a nice role player one day, BUT same comments as the 6th pick - would've like at least one swing at a pass rush.

Overall a bit of a "safe" draft that probably prioritized team fit over raw talent. This is a nice change of pace from the Rivera era where not only was I sure we had "left meat on the bone" at each rd, but worse we had activately drafted some real turds.

 

[Hail Raiser]

 

[bifflog]

Overall a bit of a "safe" draft that probably prioritized team fit over raw talent.

I dunno, "safe" to me says college production, high floor, low ceiling. We drafted the RASsiest class in football 2 years running, that's upside and risk (a good thing) IMO.



It occurs to me that this approach is a way to aim for upside and take risk without delving into the character concerns zone, whick makes a lot of sense...

 

[Hail Raiser]

 

[skinsinparadise]

CB was the position I was most worried about, we adressed it perfectly. Amos is a solid #2 on day 1, with CB1 potential.

Our OL should be one of the leagues best and I felt like that just bringing in Tunsil and Herbig.

We didn't have a #2 WR last year, now we have Deebo which was a huge upgrade and we drafted a burner who is comfortable playing like Deebo and on ST.

Jacory could end up being the best pick. At worst he upgrades the Jags at RB3, at best he becomes RB1.

Great draft.

O line and CB IMO were the spots that could have blown this team apart next season when the off season started.

O line wasn't good. Both in pass protect and run blocking. Daniels masked it. And then we got our best O lineman out for a chunk of next season. If it were Ron running this, he'd do something like lets bank on Deiter manning the RG spot until Cosmi is ready and sell that they are comfortable with the O line. Ticking time bomb. But this FO, at least on paper, rebuilt the O line in one fell swoop. Adding two stud tackles. And heck even Herbig is an upgrade depth wise. On paper this O line could rival the best. That to me is the most stunning turnaround of the off season for this team. We can rival some of the best units on paper. Granted we haven't seen it play out yet. But especially when Cosmi comes back, we can see its up there with the Eagles now. Stunning.

CB same idea. If we did it with the idea of lets just ignore what happened with Lattimore at th end of the season or or injury history and simply assume a bounce back season. They did bring him back but didn't ignore the idea that maybe Lattimore isn't it. Jones >> St. Juste. Amos is good insurance at a minimum. At a maximum if Lattimore bounces back, this is arguably one of the best secondaries in the league if Amos plays as well as he did in college.

WR was meh. Now with Samuel, Lane, Gallup -- its potentially very good. I wan't a big Dyami guy, I appreciate he played his best in the playoffs but he's typically a nonfactor. Zacchieus is a loss. But these guys are better IMO. Samuel and Lane gives them in theory some of the most dangerous YAC guys.

Special Teams: was already good. Lane arguably the best punt returner in the league. Our punt returners were shaky, fumbles waiting to happen.

RB should be better with Croskey-Merritt and the O line improvements should make the whole spot better.

D line to me is the wild card but at a minium they should be better against the run.

 

[DWinzit]

Amos was one of "my guys", he is just what the doctor ordered for our CB room. Getting him at 61 was an incredible value as he should have been gone by 40 at the latest.

Lane was the selection that gave me the biggest smile. I felt a true speedster YAC weapon able to play inside or outside was what the offense needed to open things up for JD once the OL was solidified with Conerly. The fact that he is an excellent returner is a giant bonus making Lane a player that will have a big impact in his rookie year.

Once Tahj Brooks went off the boards in the 6th round, there was only one RB left I liked. I figured there would be little chance of landing him but really lucked out and got JCM 52 picks later, WOW.

 

[burgold]

I agree. I don't know how or if Merritt or Lane will contribute, but I wanted Peters to add weapons who could stress a defense. Dyami really couldn't do it and as effective as Ekeler was he didn't scare D's. You'd think with so much attention paid to containing Daniels it would open holes for more explosives in the passing and running game and we got our fair share, but there should have been more. So, the aquisition of two speed guys that the D can't take for granted should help out a lot.

 

[method man]

On a pick by pick basis, I liked this draft better than last year’s. Against the consensus board, we reached last year for Sinnott and Luke (and, lo and behold, they were the two biggest disappointments from the class last year).

This year, no reaches vs consensus and, in fact, we arguably got great value on three guys (Amos, Kain & JCM).

 

[skinsinparadise]

Amos was one of "my guys", he is just what the doctor ordered for our CB room. Getting him at 61 was an incredible value as he should have been gone by 40 at the latest.

Lane was the selection that gave me the biggest smile. I felt a true speedster YAC weapon able to play inside or outside was what the offense needed to open things up for JD once the OL was solidified with Conerly. The fact that he is an excellent returner is a giant bonus making Lane a player that will have a big impact in his rookie year.

Once Tahj Brooks went off the boards in the 6th round, there was only one RB left I liked. I figured there would be little chance of landing him but really lucked out and got JCM 52 picks later, WOW.

As far as comments-thoughts about these guys before the draft. Conerly almost made my guys list. He was the one major cut. I like to keep it to 20 or less. I watched him more than any other o lineman because it was clear this team had interest. He was their best pick IMO because he is the missing ingredient to turnaround a unt that has been so so to bad for years thanks to Ron's disinterest in the unit. the only thing I didn't love is he needs to get stronger.

I preferred Hairston over Amos but it was close. I spoke about it here. Apparently the team saw it in a similar fashion, according to Keim. He suggested when he took Hairston in the mock draft he did for ESPN that it was a close call between him and Amos and he knows they love both. Amos I compared to Carlos Rogers with ball skills. I said high floor CB. The only thing I didn't love is his physicality while is good -- especially in the run game comes and goes IMO.

Lane got on my radar thanks to listening to McShay's podcast. He loved him so that got me watching. Talked about him on and off here. But didn't think they likely would take a WR. I commented on him being a great add if they took him, minutes before they did. Great punt returner. Dangerous YAC slot WR. Weakness he needs to evolve as a deep threat -- using his speed. He's more an underneath take it to the house guy than a Desean Jackson deep threat guy at least thus far -- so sort of the same idea as Felton who also is fast but showcases it more underneath. But in general he brings needed speed to this offense.

Medrano -- I think it was you who brought him up on draft day? My response was I know Logan Paulsens loves him, says he is special in coverage. But didn't watch him before the draft.

Croskey-Merritt -- I spent a lot of time on the RBs including a lot of time on him. He was the hardest guy to watch because there wasn't a ton of easy footage. So I watched some New Mexico games. Really dug the player as a late round type. There were some I dug more that were taken earlier. But as I said over and over again this draft is so deep at RB that even in that later round tier, they IMHO are upgrades of what we got. I pounded the table for him quite a bit in the late rounds yesterday. I did the same ironically last year for Jean-Baptiste. lol, maybe my sweet spot is the 7th round. I wanted him badly by the time our 7th round came, talked about that plenty in real time. He's dynamic- plays with his hair on fire. No so much a home run guy, more of a triples guy as to breakaway runs. Good athlete. Weakness IMO -- passing game not much to go on, and while he has some wiggle, he's a bit upright and straight line.


Speaking of Lane. I debated someone if he plays as fast as his 40 time yesterday. Highlights aren't my go to way to watch someone. But it is the quickest way to do it. As I said yesterday, in traffic, you slow down because it more about weaving through traffic than running by it. But you can see his speed on returns, end arounds and plays where he has the space to use his wheels. This is one of the better highlight reels because it's longish and in turn shows a range of plays including predestrian ones. If you want to see him take off with some space to move, check out the one at 2.59.

 

[skinsinparadise]

On a pick by pick basis, I liked this draft better than last year’s. Against the consensus board, we reached last year for Sinnott and Luke (and, lo and behold, they were the two biggest disappointments from the class last year).

This year, no reaches vs consensus and, in fact, we arguably got great value on three guys (Amos, Kain & JCM).

Yeah absolutley I made a similar point recently. McCaffrey when we did our own rankings on ES, I had in the 6th round. Sinnott who i liked I had in the third. If I recall that was similar to mock drafts. Not that I go with mock drafts on players as to guiding my own preferences. But the one thing that's sometimes close to accurate on that front is how do most teams value these players. So many of these mock drafters over the years do it based on what they are hearing from teams. Granted sometimes its misleading and wrong but its right often enough.

I don't recall anyone having McCaffrey in the third.

I didn't hate either pick though. But yeah ironic that they both sort of underpeformed in year 1.

Ron of course was the master of taking mostly 2nd rounder mocked players in the first round. There was usually an outlier or two who agreed with him, but for the most part that was his game.

I am not big on a specific consensus board. But I get the point of how do others seem to rate these guys, including the scouts that McGinn talks too.

 

[skinsinparadise]

i like Croskey Merrit's confidence

 

[DWinzit]

As far as comments-thoughts about these guys before the draft. Conerly almost made my guys list. He was the one major cut. I like to keep it to 20 or less. I watched him more than any other o lineman because it was clear this team had interest. He was their best pick IMO because he is the missing ingredient to turnaround a unt that has been so so to bad for years thanks to Ron's disinterest in the unit. the only thing I didn't love is he needs to get stronger.

I preferred Hairston over Amos but it was close. I spoke about it here. Apparently the team saw it in a similar fashion, according to Keim. He suggested when he took Hairston in the mock draft he did for ESPN that it was a close call between him and Amos and he knows they love both. Amos I compared to Carlos Rogers with ball skills. I said high floor CB. The only thing I didn't love is his physicality while is good -- especially in the run game comes and goes IMO.

Lane got on my radar thanks to listening to McShay's podcast. He loved him so that got me watching. Talked about him on and off here. But didn't think they likely would take a WR. I commented on him being a great add if they took him, minutes before they did. Great punt returner. Dangerous YAC slot WR. Weakness he needs to evolve as a deep threat -- using his speed. He's more an underneath take it to the house guy than a Desean Jackson deep threat guy at least thus far -- so sort of the same idea as Felton who also is fast but showcases it more underneath. But in general he brings needed speed to this offense.

Medrano -- I think it was you who brought him up on draft day? My response was I know Logan Paulsens loves him, says he is special in coverage. But didn't watch him before the draft.

Croskey-Merritt -- I spent a lot of time on the RBs including a lot of time on him. He was the hardest guy to watch because there wasn't a ton of easy footage. So I watched some New Mexico games. Really dug the player as a late round type. There were some I dug more that were taken earlier. But as I said over and over again this draft is so deep at RB that even in that later round tier, they IMHO are upgrades of what we got. I pounded the table for him quite a bit in the late rounds yesterday. I did the same ironically last year for Jean-Baptiste. lol, maybe my sweet spot is the 7th round. I wanted him badly by the time our 7th round came, talked about that plenty in real time. He's dynamic- plays with his hair on fire. No so much a home run guy, more of a triples guy as to breakaway runs. Good athlete. Weakness IMO -- passing game not much to go on, and while he has some wiggle, he's a bit upright and straight line.


Speaking of Lane. I debated someone if he plays as fast as his 40 time yesterday. Highlights aren't my go to way to watch someone. But it is the quickest way to do it. As I said yesterday, in traffic, you slow down because it more about weaving through traffic than running by it. But you can see his speed on returns, end arounds and plays where he has the space to use his wheels. This is one of the better highlight reels because it's longish and in turn shows a range of plays including predestrian ones. If you want to see him take off with some space to move, check out the one at 2.59.

Yeah it was me that brought up Medrano about the middle of the 6th round. I was breezing through the BPA and he was around 48 on the list. He jumped out to me as I'd read his name a number of times in different articles about Ken Norton s relationships with the UCLA LB relationships along with a Logans comments as well as another's but I can't recall who. He sounded like a great late round pick as a teamer and the otential of fitting in a CHinn type of role, nicer if he cleans up some tackling. His speed is high end, and he has real good instincts...my favorite characteristic for LB. CB and S's.

While I wanted an Edge as much as anyone and the 4th round value board showed Edge, RB and WR. As our pick approached it was evident the Edge(I really wanted Walker bad!) and RB group was fairly cleaned out and we were going to have a great option between 4-5 highly rated WRs of which I had Lane as number one. Thrilled we took him over the others although it was a solid group.

 

[burgold]

i like Croskey Merrit's confidence

It took a while for Bill to let his guard down but then it got cool.

 

[Hail Raiser]

*excited commander noises*

 

[skinsinparadise]

 

[method man]

In fact, on a pick to pick basis, this may be the happiest I’ve been with one of our drafts ever.

Yeah absolutley I made a similar point recently. McCaffrey when we did our own rankings on ES, I had in the 6th round. Sinnott who i liked I had in the third. If I recall that was similar to mock drafts. Not that I go with mock drafts on players as to guiding my own preferences. But the one thing that's sometimes close to accurate on that front is how do most teams value these players. So many of these mock drafters over the years do it based on what they are hearing from teams. Granted sometimes its misleading and wrong but its right often enough.

I don't recall anyone having McCaffrey in the third.

I didn't hate either pick though. But yeah ironic that they both sort of underpeformed in year 1.

Ron of course was the master of taking mostly 2nd rounder mocked players in the first round. There was usually an outlier or two who agreed with him, but for the most part that was his game.

I am not big on a specific consensus board. But I get the point of how do others seem to rate these guys, including the scouts that McGinn talks too.

I think they've done studies over the years comparing where folks went vs consensus board and, over a long period of time, guys overdrafted relative to consensus board generally underperform relative to their draft position.

If a GM's board is well off vs consensus like Ron's was, odds are that their evaluation skills are poor. The good news for us is that AP's board over the past couple years has generally lined up with consensus board (except for the Luke pick as you pointed out - to his credit, sans the backs, that entire 4th round seems meh)

 

[skinsinparadise]

In fact, on a pick to pick basis, this may be the happiest I’ve been with one of our drafts ever.


I think they've done studies over the years comparing where folks went vs consensus board and, over a long period of time, guys overdrafted relative to consensus board generally underperform relative to their draft position.

If a GM's board is well off vs consensus like Ron's was, odds are that their evaluation skills are poor. The good news for us is that AP's board over the past couple years has generally lined up with consensus board (except for the Luke pick as you pointed out - to his credit, sans the backs, that entire 4th round seems meh)

Yeah just off the top of my head, I think especially when go wildly off consensus in the first and 2nd, seems to burn you more.

Am good with taking more risks after the early rounds.

 

[DogofWar1]

I'm high on Lane because he is insane in space, and you've got mad scientist Kliff Klingsbury at the play calling helm.

There will be space. An "open Lane" if you will. Kliff will make sure of it.


Also, again, and I cannot stress this enough, 6.75 3-cone is crazy, you better be prime London Fletcher if Lanes catches you alone out in space.

 

[Anselmheifer]

In fact, on a pick to pick basis, this may be the happiest I’ve been with one of our drafts ever.


I think they've done studies over the years comparing where folks went vs consensus board and, over a long period of time, guys overdrafted relative to consensus board generally underperform relative to their draft position.

If a GM's board is well off vs consensus like Ron's was, odds are that their evaluation skills are poor. The good news for us is that AP's board over the past couple years has generally lined up with consensus board (except for the Luke pick as you pointed out - to his credit, sans the backs, that entire 4th round seems meh)

We’ve watched the Steelers and Ravens major in this. Grabbing guys at the back of the first that were expected to go earlier, and hitting home runs in the back of the 1st because of it.

On another note, does anybody else think that JCM might be our best option at kick returner? A one cut and go guy, amazing acceleration, solid contact balance, solid long speed. He looks custom built for the new kick returner rules.

 

[bifflog]

I think they've done studies over the years comparing where folks went vs consensus board and, over a long period of time, guys overdrafted relative to consensus board generally underperform relative to their draft position.

If a GM's board is well off vs consensus like Ron's was, odds are that their evaluation skills are poor. The good news for us is that AP's board over the past couple years has generally lined up with consensus board (except for the Luke pick as you pointed out - to his credit, sans the backs, that entire 4th round seems meh)

I think this is a fascinating subject, and I came across this article on it:

The 2025 NFL Consensus Big Board Grades The Draft

The aggregated opinion of 112 draft analysts might not be what you want to hear, but I have it anyway. Using the ranks of the Consensus Big Board, what can we say about this year's NFL draft classes?

open.substack.com

It's subscriber content, and well worth wasting your 7 day free trial on as it delves deep into the methodology of the constructing the chart, which I am including below. Snippet about our draft after that!:

The Commanders would otherwise take the second spot and they did so with only five selections in the draft. Interestingly, three of their selections were negative by pure board value – though some of them were only by a small amount. One was counted as a wash.

Their “worst” pick by the board was Jaylin Lane, who ranked 157th and was picked 128th. This is a very small penalty and the positional adjustments for their need at the position softened the blow even further.

The Josh Conerly pick in the first round turned from a slight negative into a slight positive after the positional and need adjustments, too.

Washington generated most of their positive value from one pick – a valuable position that the Commanders needed to restock: cornerback. Trey Amos, selected 61st overall, was mocked to the Commanders in the leadup to the draft a few times in the first round. His 38th overall ranking makes him one of the better selections on Day Two.