The Washington Commanders hold the No. 2 pick in the 2024 NFL draft and there is not a whole lot of mystery surrounding what the team will do. The Commanders will be taking a quarterback, which was always likely but turned into a near-certainty once the team traded away 2023 starter Sam Howell last month. The only question is which quarterback they’ll take.
With the draft one week away, the franchise’s options appear to be either Jayden Daniels or Drake Maye. Caleb Williams is a lock at No. 1, and JJ McCarthy’s draft stock hasn’t risen so high that he’s viewed as a better bet than Daniels or Maye. There was always the possibility, though, that Washington could trade down to accumulate picks and restock one of the NFL’s worst rosters with talent.
That possibility can be officially crossed off. Commanders general manager Adam Peters met with the media on Thursday and was more than happy to tell everybody the plan—the team will be staying at No. 2. And they feel great about it.
On the one hand, it’s nice to have a NFL GM bluntly explain their strategy to reporters. Many professional football teams engage in some ridiculous cloak-and-dagger shenanigans around the draft in order to hide their true intentions from the public and other teams. There are certaintly advantages to be gained by doing so but oftentimes they’ll take it to an absurd degree. It’s refreshing, if anything, for the public to hear a team representative speak so plainly.
On the other hand… This is uncommon for a reason. The Commanders are not in a position where they should trade down, to be clear. They’ve been desperately searching for a franchise quarterback since Robert Griffin III went down for the last time and this is their absolute best chance to do so. Even with a bad roster the opportunity cost of trading out of the top three picks is too much.
But letting everybody know that means Washington has cemented its position publicly for no reason. Maybe the New England Patriots, owners of the No. 3 pick, would have been interested in trading up to make sure they get their guy. Maybe a team like the Minnesota Vikings would be willing to give up a massive haul to get to No. 2. Neither of those scenarios is “likely” per se but with all of their leverage gone the Commanders won’t find out.
