UKHTTC First Takes on the R1-3 Draft Picks

The UKHTTC first take on the Washington R1-3 picks in the NFL Draft 2022?

The Commanders have taken immediate contributors.

The Commanders moved back from 11 to 16 after finding a willing trade partner in the New Orleans Saints and acquired a third & fourth rounder. It meant Washington passed up the opportunity to land Alabama WR flyer Jameson Williams, Ohio State’s WR Chris Olave (who was then taken by NO at 11), and Notre Dame Safety Kyle Hamilton.

The Washington Front Office will be judged on their decision to pass up on these guys as the trio progress their NFL careers.

GM Martin Mayhew and Ron stated pre-draft, that the 2022 class had tremendous depth in the middle rounds. In essence, this is the justification in increasing their quota of picks whilst trading away a potential superstar at 11.

Only time will tell if a wise choice was made.

And so, at #16, the first ever selection in Commanders history was the playmaking receiver out of Penn State, Jahan Dotson.

The pick underlined the determination to give Wentz as many weapons as possible and Dotson, whilst not dominant WR size, showed great hands, decent speed, and an ability to “play bigger than his frame” during his college days.

Post-draft interviews revealed a mature young man and the impression of a guy who is ready to get to work. The carrying around of a pro-level football was a nice quirk too.

For the OC in Washington, Scott Turner, he has at his disposal a WR quartet of Terry McLaurin, a hopefully fit and healthy Curtis Samuel, Dyami Brown, and now Dotson. A big bodied move the chains receiver is perhaps still lacking, although Dotson is a highlight reel star when it comes to his impressive catch radius.

In R2, the Commanders added the huge frame of DT Phidarian Mathis out of Alabama. The off-season saw Washington release defensive tackles Matt Ioannidis (now in Carolina) and Tim Settle departed to the Buffalo Bills.

The 13th pick of the 2018 draft, Daron Payne, has not been extended, so it might well be that Washington look at his career end-2022 season as four years of solid service, but be willing to let Payne hit the market & take a 2024 comp pick.

Personally, I have no issue with the occasional approach of “thank you for the four years as a rookie and we wish you well” approach. I would keep Payne around in 2022 rather than the suggested trade we heard across the fanbase on Twitter.

Mathis was a Captain at Alabama and, again, seems a high character football player with a full college career.

Pre-draft, Washington did not have a third rounder, but the aforementioned trade down gave the burgundy & gold the 98th pick of the draft. And it was back to the Crimson Tide for Rivera with the selection of Brian Robinson Jr. from Alabama.

Robinson Jr. is a big physical back, who gives the Commanders a different option in the RB room alongside Antonio Gibson and third down back J.D McKissic. Here at UKHTTC, I had felt that RB was a bigger need than had been suggested by the fanbase, and again, opens up the options for Scott Turner.

Final thoughts

I have felt for a while that there is a slight disconnect between how Head Coach Ron Rivera views the 2022 Commanders, and how the fanbase projects this team to perform.

For Ron, the trade for QB Carson Wentz was the near icing on the cake for a roster that he believes will be highly competitive in the NFC East and, hopefully, can make a splash in the 2022 post-season.

By trading down, Washington left some projected high-level players at 11, and it might be telling that New Orleans took Chris Olave at #11, whereas the Commanders believe the value in the later rounds meant this was a good exchange.

There are still obvious needs in D.C. heading into R4-7, including DB and OL depth and opportunities to acquire a LB have also been passed on.

There is limited cap room left for the Commanders, but likely just enough to sign a veteran guy around the $5 million mark. Such an amount might be enough to re-sign one of Landon Collins for the Buffalo Nickel role or Ereck Flowers along the OL or even a Kyle Van Noy for a season.

Overall, rounds 1-3 might not have thrilled the analysts and fanbase, but might well suit what Rivera & co are trying to achieve for the Commanders heading into 2022.