The Washington Commanders have done a hell of a job improving the roster over the last month and a half, but there’s still a bit of work to be done when it comes to fine-tuning things before OTAs begin.
“Between now and May is, you know, kind of a recovery a little bit,” Commanders assistant GM Lance Newmark told reporters after the draft. “Take a breath, kind of reassess where we’re at on our roster, see if there’s anything that is glaring in terms of, alright, ‘Is there anything we missed? Is there anybody still out there on the street?’ We have a rookie minicamp in a couple of weeks that we’ll kick the tires on some guys that may have fallen through the cracks.
“But between now and then, I think it’s more of a self-evaluation of what just happened, what’s still out there, where are we still deficient and do everything we can to address that.”
There are still a few options out there for the Commanders’ biggest remaining needs, but first, let’s discuss what they are and why they are still a need.
Commanders’ 3 biggest post-draft needs
1. Tackle
Yes, the Commanders drafted Brandon Coleman in the third-round, but he’s far from an instant Day 1 starter. Sure, there’s always the chance he could pass everyone by over the next few months, but that remains to be seen.
Andrew Wylie should have the right side locked up, but the left side is still a question mark as veteran Cornelius Lucas, 2023 fourth-rounder Braeden Daniels, and the aforementioned Coleman lead the battle for the starting job.
Quinn said he’d be comfortable with Lucas as the starter, but he’s a career swing tackle, so it would be wise to bring in some more competition, just to see how much iron actually sharpens iron.
Potential options: David Bakhtiari, Duane Brown, Donovan Smith
2. Cornerback
You could swap this out with tackle at the top and it would make just as much sense. Tackle gets the tiebreaker because protecting Jayden Daniels, at all costs, should be the top priority, now that he’s on the roster.
Benjamin St-Juste and Emmanuel Forbes are unproven and veteran Michael Davis should be solid, but it’s unfair to expect him to be anything more than that. If he goes down, there’s a good chance this group is in trouble – even with Mike Sainristil now on the roster.
Adding a vet keeps things afloat and prevents the secondary from potentially defending its title of “league’s worst” from last year.
Potential options: Stephon Gilmore, Adoree Jackson
3. Wide receiver
The Commanders drafted Luke McCaffrey and signed Olamide Zaccheaus in free agency, but the group still needs some more experienced help. Much like the cornerback room – if even one of Terry McLaurin or Jahan Dotson miss time then it’s not a good situation.
Washington also needs to add more size to the room. As it stands, the team only has one wideout over 6-foot-1 and that’s 6-foot-4 Brycen Tremaine. There’s no one who can go up and high point the ball or win contested red zone catches. When you have a QB like Daniels, you need a wideout that can do that.
Potential options: D.J. Chark, Tyler Boyd, Marquez Valdes-Scantling
Tight end and defensive end could also use more help, but the three positions above are certainly what I would be targeting if I were the Commanders.
