3 overreactions from Commanders' 2024 draft class: Two early picks can each win Rookie of the Year
The Washington Commanders knocked the 2024 NFL Draft out of the park. Adam Peters made shrewd move after shrewd move and the final results were nine players that will help shape the beginning of the Dan Quinn era.With all the excitement comes overreactions, good or bad. Let's have some fun and dive in. 1. The […]
The Washington Commanders knocked the 2024 NFL Draft out of the park. Adam Peters made shrewd move after shrewd move and the final results were nine players that will help shape the beginning of the Dan Quinn era.
With all the excitement comes overreactions, good or bad. Let's have some fun and dive in.
1. The Commanders are a playoff team if they stay healthy
Take a look at the NFC landscape: It's highly unlikely there are two playoff teams from the NFC South and there's a good chance the NFC North cannibalizes itself. In terms of the division, it remains to be seen what ultimately happens with the Eagles, the Cowboys are talented but always underperform, and Daniel Jones is still the Giants quarterback.
The only division that's guaranteed to produce two playoff teams is the NFC West and even then, the Rams are a Matt Stafford injury away from falling out contention.
If the Commanders stay healthy, they have a talented enough roster and the NFC is open enough to where, yes, they are a playoff team.
2. Jayden Daniels and Mike Sainristil can both win their respective Rookie of the Year awards
Yes, the Commanders have a chance to join the Jets and Texans as the most recent teams to have rookies win both the Offensive Player of the Year and Defensive Player Year awards.
Sainristil is a big play waiting to happen and Dan Quinn/Joe Whitt Jr. will put him in as many spots as possible to make as many plays as possible. He'll be a force in both the run game and the pass game, so there'll be ample opportunities to force fumbles, pick off passes, and sack quarterbacks.
Filling out the stat sheet like that is the quickest way to win hardware and there's little reason to think Sainristil will be have an innocuous rookie season.
Daniels has a solid enough environment around him, plus his own abilities, to where he can out duel the other top rookie quarterbacks. If the offensive line can be average on a consistent basis, then it's going to be a dead heat between Daniels, Caleb Williams, and J.J. McCarthy – assuming all three win the starting job, of course.
3. Emmanuel Forbes will win the starting job back
Fords is undersized for a Quinn corner, but he has the length, athleticism, and ball skills to where it offsets the small frame.
With an offseason to reinvigorate himself, as well as multiple moves in the cornerback room, Forbes will understand that the time is now to prove he can be the first-round pick the previous regime envisioned when they took him at 16 overall.
I hate to be cliche, but iron sharpens iron, and all the additions in free agency and the draft will push Forbes to where he regains his footing and ends up as a starting contributor in 2024.
