Massive NFL Draft news will drastically impact Washington Commanders’ plans with the No. 7 overall pick
The Commanders have a tough decision to make in the 2026 NFL Draft, and Dante Moore going back to college threw a wrench in their plans.
The Washington Commanders have made a ton of changes to start the offseason, and there are plenty more on the way.
They started by moving on from both coordinators, and general manager Adam Peters will soon start making changes to the roster. The Commanders have a lot of free agents to decide on, and then there’s the 2026 NFL Draft. Even with a nightmare of a season, the Commanders’ 5-12 record gave them only the No. 7 overall pick due to a Week 18 win against the Philadelphia Eagles.
They have a lot of decisions to make with that pick, but one recent announcement has changed everything for them.
Top QB Dante Moore announces his return to Oregon
There were supposed to be two top quarterback prospects for the 2026 NFL Draft with Fernando Mendoza and Dante Moore, but that changed on Wednesday. Moore was a lock to be a top-five pick with so many quarterback-needy teams picking ahead of the Commanders, but he decided to go back to college for one more year.
The Commanders obviously have a quarterback in Jayden Daniels, so how does this impact them? It changes two situations for the Commanders, and how the board will fall to them.
How Dante Moore’s decision affects the Commanders
Mendoza is now the only quarterback projected to go in the top-10, with Trinidad Chambliss and Ty Simpson as QB2 and QB3, but giant wild cards. For the trade-back crowd, the Commanders’ chances of doing so are as low as possible now, with no quarterbacks worth trading up for.
Teams like the Miami Dolphins, Pittsburgh Steelers, and the New York Jets, who have picks No. 2 and No. 16, could just wait to take a quarterback where they are.
With the supply not meeting demand, teams ahead of the Commanders will now have to take another player who is not a quarterback, which means one more player will be off the board than we weren’t expecting at all.
Right now, the top-eight picks of the 2026 NFL Draft are Mendoza, Arvell Reese, Caleb Downs, Jeremiyah Love, Rueben Bain Jr, David Bailey, Jordyn Tyson, and Carnell Tate. That means the Commanders will have one less option to pick from, which could result in them missing out on Downs or Bailey, as they now have a higher chance of being selected before them.
It might seem like one pick to a lot of people, but that one pick could be what turns an All-Pro selection into a draft bust with the wrong player. Peters said he was open to everything, but trading back doesn’t seem like a real option now, and they have to get the pick right at No. 7.
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