The 2024 Commanders NFL Draft Thread

[turtle28]

14 hours ago, Slappy Mc said:

https://www.nflmockdraftdatabase.com/user-mock-drafts/2024/user-mock-1799245

12 Brock Bowers TE | Georgia

42 Barrett Carter LB | Clemson (TRADE)

43 Troy Fautanu OT | Washington

78 Sedrick Van Pran OC | Georgia

82 Princely Umanmielen DL | Florida (TRADE)

100 Blake Corum RB | Michigan

108 Donovan Jackson OG | Ohio State (TRADE)

113 Adisa Isaac EDGE | Penn State

148 Jamon Dumas-Johnson LB | Georgia

188 Mike Sainristil CB | Michigan

233 Joshua Gray OT | Oregon State

Washington Receives: 2024: Round 2, Pick 38 2025: Round 3, Round 4, Round 5

Los Angeles Receives: 2024: Round 2, Pick 37

 

Washington Receives: 2024: Round 2, Pick 42; Round 3, Pick 82; Round 4, Pick 108 2025: Round 2

Green Bay Receives: 2024: Round 2, Pick 38

 

Love it except for taking another mid to late-round DE when we're flooded with prospects there & average vets. I think it's a DE in R1 or 2 or none at all.

Also, if we take Barrett, who plays MIKE, him or Jamin?

I guess we could play Jamin at MIKE and have Curl call the plays as the BN/WLB like he is now and did the end of last year.

Edited November 12, 2023 by turtle28

[Slappy Mc]

7 hours ago, turtle28 said:

Love it except for taking another mid to late-round DE when we're flooded with prospects there & average vets. I think it's a DE in R1 or 2 or none at all.

Also, if we take Barrett, who plays MIKE, him or Jamin?

I guess we could play Jamin at MIKE but have Curl call the plays as the BN/WLB like he is now and did the end of last year.

Barrett would get an immediate shot on the MLB role. I actually envisioned a traditional 4-3 being run as opposed to JDR's bastard defense, so there is a possibility that Dumas-Johnson gets some time at MLB with Barrett and Davis as OLBs, but he will probably be mostly special teams.

As for drafting two pass rushers, I expect this team to keep trying to go by committee. I don't think we are swinging at a "top tier" pass rusher again. I think one of these will hit and the other can potentially be a solid special teams contributor/pass rush specialist.

[turtle28]

4 minutes ago, Slappy Mc said:

Barrett would get an immediate shot on the MLB role. I actually envisioned a traditional 4-3 being run as opposed to JDR's bastard defense, so there is a possibility that Dumas-Johnson gets some time at MLB with Barrett and Davis as OLBs, but he will probably be mostly special teams.

As for drafting two pass rushers, I expect this team to keep trying to go by committee. I don't think we are swinging at a "top tier" pass rusher again. I think one of these will hit and the other can potentially be a solid special teams contributor/pass rush specialist.

Barrett plays WLB at Clemson. He's not a MLB. We need to draft a MLB who can stuff the run & also isn't a liability in the pass. Barrett isn't the guy you want in between the guards trying to shed blocks bc he will struggle to do it. And when guys his size get abused in the run game then it affects what they do best which is to be freed up on the weak to run down the backside on run plays or to cover in space.

As for our current D, they don't call Kam Curl a WLB but that's essentially what he is except on short yardage plays. Most of the time he's covering TEs and I would not change that at all on our D. TEs don't abuse our D bc of Kam Curl’s coverage on them.

[MikeT14]

17 minutes ago, turtle28 said:

Barrett plays WLB at Clemson. He's not a MLB. We need to draft a MLB who can stuff the run & also isn't a liability in the pass. Barrett isn't the guy you want in between the guards trying to shed blocks bc he will struggle to do it. And when guys his size get abused in the run game then it affects what they do best which is to be freed up on the weak to run down the backside on run plays or to cover in space.

As for our current D, they don't call Kam Curl a WLB but that's essentially what he is except on short yardage plays. Most of the time he's covering TEs and I would not change that at all on our D. TEs don't abuse our D bc of Kam Curl’s coverage on them.

Have you watched Clemson this year? I don’t think your analysis of Carter is on at all. Also, he’s the same size as Trotter. 

[turtle28]

59 minutes ago, MikeT14 said:

Have you watched Clemson this year? I don’t think your analysis of Carter is on at all. Also, he’s the same size as Trotter. 

Admittedly I haven't bc ever since Maryland left the conference I have no reason to watch the conference. I'm just going by scouting reports. 

[Skinsin2013]

Three rounder. Why not?

 

[Thaiphoon]

Picking 11th. We have an outside chance to get into the top 5 if we tank.

[Slappy Mc]

51 minutes ago, Thaiphoon said:

Picking 11th. We have an outside chance to get into the top 5 if we tank.

[e16bball]

Here’s something that would be incredibly unpopular that I can’t stop thinking might make sense. I already know I’m going to get killed for this post, but…I’d be really giving strong consideration to moving back to the 3-4. 

They’re already using a lot of these 5-2 looks with Ridgeway or Mathis on the field at the nose. Payne and Allen would be a world-class 5-tech duo, reminiscent of the Heyward/Tuitt pairing from the Steelers a few years ago. 

There are really two reasons I’m intrigued by the idea. First of all, we are already facing a total restart at the EDGE position. There’s no Andre Carter here who is a quality 4-3 DE that will get frozen out in a move to a 3-4. We could easily start over with two stand-up rush OLB types (instead of two traditional DEs). I think with the way most of the teams have moved back to the 4-3, you may be exploring a market inefficiency for that type of player. For example, you could grab a Josh Allen or Josh Uche type in free agency. That’s an instant pass-rush threat. Plus, some of those twitched-up tweeners with great explosion tend to fall a little in the draft because they don’t quite fit in a traditional 4-3 — maybe a guy like Dallas Turner or even Chop Robinson makes it into range for a trade-up from one of our early R2 picks?

The second reason is because I think it’s become very hard to find MLBs who can play sideline to sideline with enough speed to combat modern offenses that use the entire field horizontally — especially ones that don’t hurt you by also being undersized. By moving to that 3-4 alignment, you can make life a little easier for your ILBs by giving them more half-field responsibilities. Might make it a lot easier to find another LB to add to Jamin and try to complete that picture a bit more effectively. 

[ARTMONK HOF]

38 minutes ago, e16bball said:

Here’s something that would be incredibly unpopular that I can’t stop thinking might make sense. I already know I’m going to get killed for this post, but…I’d be really giving strong consideration to moving back to the 3-4. 

They’re already using a lot of these 5-2 looks with Ridgeway or Mathis on the field at the nose. Payne and Allen would be a world-class 5-tech duo, reminiscent of the Heyward/Tuitt pairing from the Steelers a few years ago. 

There are really two reasons I’m intrigued by the idea. First of all, we are already facing a total restart at the EDGE position. There’s no Andre Carter here who is a quality 4-3 DE that will get frozen out in a move to a 3-4. We could easily start over with two stand-up rush OLB types (instead of two traditional DEs). I think with the way most of the teams have moved back to the 4-3, you may be exploring a market inefficiency for that type of player. For example, you could grab a Josh Allen or Josh Uche type in free agency. That’s an instant pass-rush threat. Plus, some of those twitched-up tweeners with great explosion tend to fall a little in the draft because they don’t quite fit in a traditional 4-3 — maybe a guy like Dallas Turner or even Chop Robinson makes it into range for a trade-up from one of our early R2 picks?

The second reason is because I think it’s become very hard to find MLBs who can play sideline to sideline with enough speed to combat modern offenses that use the entire field horizontally — especially ones that don’t hurt you by also being undersized. By moving to that 3-4 alignment, you can make life a little easier for your ILBs by giving them more half-field responsibilities. Might make it a lot easier to find another LB to add to Jamin and try to complete that picture a bit more effectively. 

You think KJ Henry and Andre Jones would fit at OLB in that 3-4 Alignment?

[Thaiphoon]

55 minutes ago, e16bball said:

Here’s something that would be incredibly unpopular that I can’t stop thinking might make sense. I already know I’m going to get killed for this post, but…I’d be really giving strong consideration to moving back to the 3-4. 

They’re already using a lot of these 5-2 looks with Ridgeway or Mathis on the field at the nose. Payne and Allen would be a world-class 5-tech duo, reminiscent of the Heyward/Tuitt pairing from the Steelers a few years ago. 

There are really two reasons I’m intrigued by the idea. First of all, we are already facing a total restart at the EDGE position. There’s no Andre Carter here who is a quality 4-3 DE that will get frozen out in a move to a 3-4. We could easily start over with two stand-up rush OLB types (instead of two traditional DEs). I think with the way most of the teams have moved back to the 4-3, you may be exploring a market inefficiency for that type of player. For example, you could grab a Josh Allen or Josh Uche type in free agency. That’s an instant pass-rush threat. Plus, some of those twitched-up tweeners with great explosion tend to fall a little in the draft because they don’t quite fit in a traditional 4-3 — maybe a guy like Dallas Turner or even Chop Robinson makes it into range for a trade-up from one of our early R2 picks?

The second reason is because I think it’s become very hard to find MLBs who can play sideline to sideline with enough speed to combat modern offenses that use the entire field horizontally — especially ones that don’t hurt you by also being undersized. By moving to that 3-4 alignment, you can make life a little easier for your ILBs by giving them more half-field responsibilities. Might make it a lot easier to find another LB to add to Jamin and try to complete that picture a bit more effectively. 

As much as I hate the 3-4, I have to agree with you here. Especially with the bolded. This is the strategy that the Patriots and a few other teams used for quite a long time as teams stuck to the 4-3. 

[offbyone]

1 hour ago, e16bball said:

Here’s something that would be incredibly unpopular that I can’t stop thinking might make sense. I already know I’m going to get killed for this post, but…I’d be really giving strong consideration to moving back to the 3-4. 

They’re already using a lot of these 5-2 looks with Ridgeway or Mathis on the field at the nose. Payne and Allen would be a world-class 5-tech duo, reminiscent of the Heyward/Tuitt pairing from the Steelers a few years ago. 

There are really two reasons I’m intrigued by the idea. First of all, we are already facing a total restart at the EDGE position. There’s no Andre Carter here who is a quality 4-3 DE that will get frozen out in a move to a 3-4. We could easily start over with two stand-up rush OLB types (instead of two traditional DEs). I think with the way most of the teams have moved back to the 4-3, you may be exploring a market inefficiency for that type of player. For example, you could grab a Josh Allen or Josh Uche type in free agency. That’s an instant pass-rush threat. Plus, some of those twitched-up tweeners with great explosion tend to fall a little in the draft because they don’t quite fit in a traditional 4-3 — maybe a guy like Dallas Turner or even Chop Robinson makes it into range for a trade-up from one of our early R2 picks?

The second reason is because I think it’s become very hard to find MLBs who can play sideline to sideline with enough speed to combat modern offenses that use the entire field horizontally — especially ones that don’t hurt you by also being undersized. By moving to that 3-4 alignment, you can make life a little easier for your ILBs by giving them more half-field responsibilities. Might make it a lot easier to find another LB to add to Jamin and try to complete that picture a bit more effectively. 

Yes I am in the crowd who find this unpopular   Get the reasoning but the 3-4 is hard to find personnel.  You might find it for a season but it never lasts.  No one any good wants to actually play NT so hard to find a solution there long term other than DTs who have to settle for it.  Super hard to find DE/OLB who have the skill to play the hybrid position.  Honestly surprise Rivera doesn't push the 3-4 cause it is the position flex dream position.  

 

[e16bball]

Hey, not nearly as furiously outraged a reaction as I was expecting 😂

The thing I hate most about the 3-4 is the process of switching between the two, because traditionally you’re going to devalue a scheme-specific asset or two. But we’ve already traded away the two guys who are pure 4-3 players, so…that harm is already sort of done.

For me, it’s really just about zigging when the majority of the league appears to be zagging. That’s the whole Moneyball concept in a nutshell: if the whole league is chasing home runs, put your money into the guys who get on base. If the majority of the NFL is chasing undersized, penetrating 4-3 DTs and traditional hand in the dirt 4-3 DEs who can pass-rush and play run, maybe you need to go looking for the old-school nose tackles and some tweeners who can fly off the edge. I think that’s one way you bring the concept of analytics to NFL roster-building — seek out the market inefficiencies, meaning “which player types are currently overvalued or undervalued?”

[e16bball]

1 hour ago, ARTMONK HOF said:

You think KJ Henry and Andre Jones would fit at OLB in that 3-4 Alignment?

Always a little hard to tell if a guy can pick up the concepts related to moving backwards and playing laterally at times — some guys are just straight line players through and through — but I think both of them have frames that could reasonably fit the physical profile of a 3-4 OLB. 

I think both of those guys are likely to be backup types in either scheme, so I probably wouldn’t be inclined to build much of the decision around them. I’d see it as a big bonus if they contribute much (either way, really). 

1 hour ago, offbyone said:

Yes I am in the crowd who find this unpopular   Get the reasoning but the 3-4 is hard to find personnel.  You might find it for a season but it never lasts.  No one any good wants to actually play NT so hard to find a solution there long term other than DTs who have to settle for it.  Super hard to find DE/OLB who have the skill to play the hybrid position.  Honestly surprise Rivera doesn't push the 3-4 cause it is the position flex dream position.  

 

NE/PIT/BAL seem to have been able to make it work for a long time. You do need more “specialized” player types, which makes it a bit trickier. But if that’s what you do, you should be able to develop an understanding of how to properly reinforcing your ranks at those key positions like NT and EDGE.

No doubt, there’s no glamour in being a NT. Some guys are built for it, though. Maybe ole John Ridgeway is one of them. Or they could look at trading a later pick to free Siaki Ika from the DL logjam in CLE, as that was a guy that intrigued me as a two-gapping mountain in the last draft. 

I do think that’s the critical part of the plan. That was the problem years ago, when they stuffed poor Barry Cofield in there and asked him to soak up all the double teams. No viable NT in a 3-4 basically means your defense is a disaster. The good news is, we do know Payne can do it if he really has to.

[turtle28]

5 hours ago, e16bball said:

Here’s something that would be incredibly unpopular that I can’t stop thinking might make sense. I already know I’m going to get killed for this post, but…I’d be really giving strong consideration to moving back to the 3-4. 

They’re already using a lot of these 5-2 looks with Ridgeway or Mathis on the field at the nose. Payne and Allen would be a world-class 5-tech duo, reminiscent of the Heyward/Tuitt pairing from the Steelers a few years ago. 

There are really two reasons I’m intrigued by the idea. First of all, we are already facing a total restart at the EDGE position. There’s no Andre Carter here who is a quality 4-3 DE that will get frozen out in a move to a 3-4. We could easily start over with two stand-up rush OLB types (instead of two traditional DEs). I think with the way most of the teams have moved back to the 4-3, you may be exploring a market inefficiency for that type of player. For example, you could grab a Josh Allen or Josh Uche type in free agency. That’s an instant pass-rush threat. Plus, some of those twitched-up tweeners with great explosion tend to fall a little in the draft because they don’t quite fit in a traditional 4-3 — maybe a guy like Dallas Turner or even Chop Robinson makes it into range for a trade-up from one of our early R2 picks?

The second reason is because I think it’s become very hard to find MLBs who can play sideline to sideline with enough speed to combat modern offenses that use the entire field horizontally — especially ones that don’t hurt you by also being undersized. By moving to that 3-4 alignment, you can make life a little easier for your ILBs by giving them more half-field responsibilities. Might make it a lot easier to find another LB to add to Jamin and try to complete that picture a bit more effectively. 

I agree with this. I’ve always liked the 3-4 bc of how exotic you can get with the look’s to confuse blocking schemes or like you said we’d run a 5-2-4 on run downs and a 4-2-5 most of the game like we already do.

The issue we had last decade with it is that our front office/HCs did not invest enough in the defense. It wouldn’t have mattered what scheme we ran, our D was going to be average at best like in 2011 or bottom 1/3 like every other year of last decade.

Andre Jones & Toohill fit the 3-4 already. In reading KJ Henry’s scouting report, he probably fits the 3-4 better actually. He runs a 4.6 forty, he has a quick upfield burst off the line but tell me if you’ve heard this before for a C’s DE - needs to develop counter pass rush moves and hand fighting at the top of his rush to dislodge from OTs & needs to improve setting the edge.

NFL Comparison

Lorenzo Carter

Overview

Highly athletic edge defender with good size. Henry has upfield burst, but he tends to be a face-up rusher and will need to improve his hand usage for more effective corner turns. He can be dynamic when twisting and blitzing as a moveable piece around the defensive front and he does a nice job of setting up a buttery smooth inside rush that is often too quick for tackles.

He can dart and disrupt as a one-gapper with his hand in the ground but has more trouble than expected in setting firm edges as a run defender.

Henry’s strengths and weaknesses are well-defined, with the upside to become a starter.

 

• Ankle flexion allows for tight turns.
• Reaches in and targets throwing hand around the rush arc.
• Capable of transitioning speed to power in his rush.
• Stays low and smooth for electric inside rush counter.

If we do keep Shaka Toney after his suspension, he fits the 3-4 at his size plus he’s quick and athletic

I agree with you that regardless if we move to the 3-4 or stay with the 4-3 we need an upgrade at least at one of our DE/OLB positions either through FA or the draft.

We’d move JSW to 3-4 DE. We’d have to draft/sign one more 3-4 DE unless they’re keeping Obada to be Jon Allen’s back up. 
 

Bring Ioannidis back as a reserve 3-4 DE? I’m game!