What Commanders' GM Adam Peters said about his NFL Draft big board

ASHBURN, Va. -- The Washington Commanders are following the old saying, 'stay ready so you don't have to get ready,' ahead of the NFL Draft.

Picking at No. 29 in the first round of the upcoming NFL Draft, the team isn't in the advantageous situation they were last year when the Commanders had a two-man big board and got their top guy, quarterback Jayden Daniels.

During his pre-draft press conference, Washington general manager Adam Peters acknowledged they don't have a 29-man big board for their first pick, but they do have a list they're working off of to make sure when the clock starts ticking, they aren't left without a plan.

Penn State Nittany Lions defensive end Abdul Carter isn't going to be there at No. 29, but others will be. | Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

"There's guys that we know that aren't going to be there, so it wouldn't be–I mean if they were there, yeah, we'd take 'em–but we're fairly certain they're not going to be there. ...This draft is interesting just because there's very little certainty after the first 10 picks or so (about) who's going to go where and why and what's going to happen and all that. So we have to be ready for a lot of different guys to fall to us or to not fall to us," Peters said. "We've done an exercise where we just ranked this group of guys–however many it is–t could be 10, it could be five, it could be 20 of, 'Okay, will they be there?' And if these guys are there, should we stay and pick, or should we trade down? Should we trade up to go get one? We really challenged ourselves to do that before the clock ran out. That way, we'd be able to make a decision pretty quickly."

While he declined to specify how deep that list goes, or how many players are surefire stay and pick guys, it is always good to get a peak into the process as the Commanders get ready to select a player we all hope will be able to continue the culture built last season, and potentially lead to even more success than we experienced in 2024.

The NFL Draft begins Thursday, April 24th, at 8 p.m. ET.

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