Commanders NFL Draft: Free Agency Mock Edition
This time of year everyone is out to try and figure out what the Washington Commanders are going to do this offseason to improve upon their four-win 2023 campaign.
Already many view the Commanders front office decisions as a significant upgrade with new faces like Dan Quinn and Joe Whitt Jr. coming onto the coaching staff from the Dallas Cowboys while Kliff Kingsbury comes in to coordinate the offense, to name a few.
Ultimately, even if these new coaches - combined with the ones held over from the last regime - prove to be the right drivers, the players suiting up for Washington still need to be the right fits or it'll all be for nothing.
And since there are more than one places to find new players, we thought we'd take a combined mock NFL Draft and free agency approach to this 'Mock Draft Monday'.
Here are the rules. As we mock-drafted this week's edition we bounced back and forth from the draft board to the free agency pool to flesh out nine new Commanders joining the squad.
(Left to Right) Patrick Queen, Austin Booker, Caleb Williams, and Tyron Smith could all be part of the Washington Commanders' off-season future.
USA Today Sports
1ST ROUND, PICK NO. 2 - QUARTERBACK CALEB WILLIAMS, USC
You read that right, in this week's mock draft Pro Football Focus' simulator had the Chicago Bears take North Carolina quarterback Drake Maye with the first overall pick.
For those who say that would never happen, it wasn't that long ago Oklahoma quarterback Baker Mayfield was the surprise No. 1 selection by the Cleveland Browns who many assumed would draft either Sam Darnold (USC) or Josh Allen (Wyoming).
Perhaps history will repeat itself and a USC passer many assumed would go off the board first will be the second quarterback taken.
Hopefully with better results this time around.
2ND ROUND, PICK NO. 36 - CENTER ZACH FRAZIER, WEST VIRGINIA
Here's where things get fun as the best player at a position of need in Washington when pick No. 34 came around was linebacker Payton Wilson from North Carolina State.
Because of our rules this week, however, we turned to the free agent pool and took the plunge on signing Baltimore Ravens linebacker Patrick Queen to his Spotrac projected 5-year deal worth $18.5 million per year on average.
That's about half a million less than San Francisco 49ers linebacker Fred Warner makes per year and following that contract, Queen's cap hit in 2024 figures to come in around $3.2 million.
Linebacker position addressed, we were able to go to the next best option and nab a potential starting center in Frazier from West Virginia.
2ND ROUND, PICK NO. 40 - TIGHT END JA'TAVION SANDERS, TEXAS
Arizona Wildcats offensive tackle was the new top name on our board for Washington when this pick came up and while the younger pass protector would provide some long-term potential, we decided to fill this hole with a one-year lease.
Tyron Smith coming over from the Cowboys is admittedly a bit of a risk given that he has missed 37 games in the last four years, but after playing in 13 last season we know he's one of the best around when he's on the field, even at almost 34 years of age.
Signing him to a one-year deal worth $7.4 million allows us to go to the next available player, Longhorns tight end Ja'Tavion Sanders.
3RD ROUND, PICK NO. 67 - EDGE AUSTIN BOOKER, KANSAS
Next up, instead of drafting guard Christian Haynes out of UConn we're hitting the free agency pool to steal Tennessee Titans center Aaron Brewer.
Brewer had some struggles in his move to center, so we're projecting him to play guard at $5.2 million per year average over three of them.
And that signing frees us to address the edge group with Booker from the Jayhawks program.
3RD ROUND PICK, NO. 101 - OFFENSIVE TACKLE MATT GONCALVES, PITT
With our final pick in this week's mock, we pass up Kentucky cornerback Andru Phillips and take an offensive tackle who figures to play the right side but could be groomed to move to the left if needed.
In place of the young cornerback, we're once again turning to Dallas where coaches Quinn and Whitt reach back to their former roster to bring Noah Igbinoghene over on a two-year deal worth $3.8 million in annual average value.
Igbinoghene played just five games for the Cowboys in 2023 so the question here is whether or not it was a matter of his not deserving playing time, or the roster being too crowded at the top.
If it's the latter of the two, then he gets a head start on the rest of the defense in Washington after having worked with his coaches for one year already.
Linebacker Patrick Queen (left) and quarterback Caleb Williams (right) are the crown jewels of this offseason mock simulation.
David Harrison
We started by addressing the most important position on the field, and through the draft and free agency added nine players who all could factor into helping reshape the organization for the better.
While we got some big names and hefty contracts, all told, Washington still projects to have north of $55 million in cap space for 2024 after free agent and draft class contracts are finalized.
And that's before any additional moves or adjustments are potentially made.
