Each day leading up to the 2026 NFL Draft — April 23-25 — TeamFB7 will break down a different team’s biggest draft need and the best selection to address it. Granted, teams will most often use their first-round pick on the best available player/value and not necessarily always their biggest need, so this isn’t going to compile together into a mock draft in the end. It’s more a breakdown of how each team could best address its most paramount priority if it chooses.
The Washington Commanders have experienced the full gamut already in just two seasons under coach Dan Quinn.
In 2024, everything that could possibly go right for the team did as it rode a rookie quarterback to 12 wins and then all the way to one of the most improbable NFC championship game appearances in quite a while. It was Washington’s first winning season in eight years, and yet suddenly the potential for the franchise felt limitless with QB Jayden Daniels.
Until …
In 2025, everything that could possibly go wrong for the team did as Daniels was injured at four separate points of the season, played in just seven games, star receiver Terry McLaurin played in just 10 games fresh off a 3-year, $87-million contract extension and Quinn’s defense unraveled to the point of finishing dead-last in the NFL in yards allowed, all leading to a dismal 5-12 finish.
Good luck trying to project what the Commanders will do in 2026!
But we can aim to project what they should do in the 2026 NFL Draft in a few weeks as they hold the No. 7 overall pick.
First, let’s break down the team’s biggest needs …
Washington Commanders’ Biggest 2026 NFL Draft Needs
Washington used free agency to rebuild that defense after the frustrating downtown last season — starting up front.
The Commanders let aging sack leader Von Miller (9 sacks in 2025) hit free agency (he remains unsigned) and fellow edge rusher Jacob Martin (tied for second with 5.5 sacks) sign with the Titans.
That cleared the way for the team to invest heavily in the position, signing prized free agent Odafe Oweh — who had 7.5 sacks in 12 regular-season games after being traded from the Ravens to Chargers last season and then 3 more in Los Angeles’ playoff game — for 4 years and $96 million with $68 million guaranteed.
That was just the first domino, though. The Commanders signed K’Lavon Chaisson (10.5 regular-season/postseason sacks for the Patriots) on a 1-year, $11-million deal along with former Chiefs rotational defensive end Charles Omenihu (1 year, $4 million). Add in returning DE Dorance Armstrong (5.5 sacks in 7 games before a season-ending knee injury) and that’s an impressive group.
On the interior, Washington poached former Texans defensive tackle Tim Settle — ranked 27th out of 134 qualifying interior defensive linemen by PFF — for 3 years and $23.49 million. Paired with veteran NT Daron Payne (3 sacks, 36 tackles last season), emerging DT Jer’Zhan Newton (5 sacks, 38 tackles) and veteran DT Javon Kinlaw (43 tackles), the Commanders are at least solid if perhaps unspectacular at those spots.
In the middle of the defense, Washington let leading tackler Bobby Wagner (162 tackles, 4.5 sacks in his 14th NFL season) hit free agency, but the team hasn’t ruled out bringing him back. Wagner remains unsigned, and the Commanders are likely waiting to see how the draft plays out (hint hint).
In the meantime, they signed former Chiefs starting LB Leo Chenal, who was limited to 14 games last season with 58 tackles, 2 sacks and an interception but graded out as PFF’s 18th-best LB. Presently paired with Frankie Luvu (86 tackles, 3 sacks) and/or Jordan Magee (54 tackles in 8 starts, 17 games in his second NFL season), that feels like an unfinished unit that will be upgraded one way or another.
Continuing the aggressive free agent spending across the defense, Washington also signed former Colts safety Nick Cross (120 tackles, 1 INT, 1 FF, 2.5 sacks) for 2 years and $13 million to pair him with Quan Martin (99 tackles) atop the depth chart there. But Martin, a second-round draft pick in 2023, has been viewed as a disappointment, and his snap counts were notably cut in the final two games last season (28 and 6), so that makes Washington at least a potential landing spot for top safety prospect Caleb Downs, from Ohio State.
The Commanders also added former Lions cornerback Amik Robertson (52 tackles, 1 INT, 12 passes defended, 2 FF) for 2 years and $15.02 million, but that remains a position of need after the team released four-time Pro Bowl veteran Marshon Lattimore. Mike Sainristil had 85 tackles, 4 INTs and 12 PDs in his second NFL season, but PFF ranked him 96th out of 114 qualifying CBs.
So the priorities still to address on defense — either via draft, trade or a lingering free agent — are linebacker, potentially safety and cornerback.
Washington Commanders’ Offensive Needs
What the Commanders need more than anything is for Daniels to stay healthy and play like he did in his 2024 NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year season when he completed 69% of his passes for 3,568 yards, 25 TDs and 9 INTs and rushed for 891 yards and 6 scores.
Daniels sustained a knee sprain in Week 2 last season that kept him out two games, a hamstring strain in Week 7 costing him the next game, then had the gruesome dislocated left non-throwing elbow in Week 9. Despite the season being lost already, Washington brought him back in Week 14 and he fell on the same elbow, reinjuring it and missing the rest of the season.
Commanders fans were left with PTSD flashbacks to Robert Griffin III and hoping Daniels isn’t doomed to repeat the same fate, though a non-throwing elbow and a knee are two very different matters for a QB.
In the meantime, Washington hasn’t done much on offense yet this offseason.
The big free agent signing was former Titans tight end Chig Okonkwo (3 years, $27 million), who has had three straight seasons of at least 50 receptions for between 479-560 yards and takes over for 35-year-old free agent Zach Ertz.
Other smaller moves included re-signing backup QB Marcus Mariota (1 year, $7 million) and bringing in minimal-investment depth with former Buccaneers RB Rachaad White (1 year, $2 million), former Browns RB Jerome Ford (1 year, $1.4 million), well-traveled veteran WR Van Jefferson (1 year, $1.4 million) and bringing back former Commanders WR Dyami Brown (1 year, $1.75 million) after he spent last season with the Jaguars.
None of those are needle-moving moves for an offensive supporting cast that is a bit underwhelming collectively.
McLaurin, who missed seven games last year with two quad injuries, is excellent when healthy, posting at least 919 receiving yards each of his first six NFL seasons before 2025 and recording a career-high 13 TDs (plus 3 more in the postseason) in his lone full season playing with Daniels.
But the Commanders don’t have a clear No. 2 receiver with Deebo Samuel a free agent after one season with the team — rather a collection of spare parts like former Titans first-round bust Treylon Burks (10 catches for 130 yards and 1 TD in 8 games in his Washington debut), Jaylin Lane (16-225-0), Luke McCaffrey (15-203-3 in nine games), Brown (20-227-1 for Jaguars) and Jefferson (29-350-1 for Titans).
The running back room isn’t necessarily any more impressive.
Jacory “Bill” Croskey-Merritt provided good return as a seventh-round pick last year, rushing for 805 yards and 3 TDs on a respectable 4.6 yards per carry as a rookie, but it remains to be seen how high his ceiling is in the NFL. He’s not a bell-cow back and probably isn’t a top-20 RB1 in the league.
Washington let No. 2 RB Chris Rodriguez Jr. leave as a free agent to the Jaguars and brought in White as the third-down, complementary back. White had three straight 50-reception seasons for the Bucs before dropping to 40 catches for 218 yards last season to go with his 572 rushing yards and 4 TDs on 4.3 YPC. He’s a serviceable third-down back. And Ford had some moments in Cleveland (813 rushing yards, 4 TDs, 37 catches for 225 yards in 2024), but he was phased out there last season and rushed for just 73 yards on 24 carries in 13 games.
The Commanders absolutely need to upgrade the talent at the offensive skill positions.
Along the offensive line, meanwhile, they just gave elite left tackle Laremy Tunsil a 2-year, $60.2-million extension, making him the highest-paid offensive lineman by annual value in NFL history. Paired with still-developing but high-upside right tackle Josh Conerly, the 29th overall pick in the 2025 NFL Draft, and that’s a strong pair of bookends.
Reliable right guard Sam Cosmi (who ranked 10th out of 81 qualifying OGs per PFF last season) remains a fixture as well.
The rest? Less inspiring.
The Commanders surprisingly released center Tyler Biadasz, who then bolted in free agency to the Chargers (for 3 years, $30 million), leaving veteran guard Nick Allegretti as the likely replacement after he started the final two games last season at center.
And Washington re-signed left guard Chris Paul ($1 year, $3 million), who posted the fifth-best isolated PFF pass-blocking grade (78.2) among guards but also ranked 73rd out of 81 qualifying OGs in overall grade.
Those spots could merit consideration later in the draft.
So to summarize, we’d rank Washington’s priority needs as WR, LB, CB, S, RB in that order.
Where does that leave the Commanders on the draft board? With a lot of ways to go with that No. 7 pick.
Who Should The Washington Commanders Take No. 7 Overall In 2026 NFL Draft?
Washington holds the following picks in the upcoming draft — listed by round (overall pick): 1 (7), 3 (71), 5 (147), 6 (187), 6 (209), 7 (223).
Only having one pick in the first two rounds puts a lot of pressure on that decision because there’s still so much value early in the second round that teams with multiple pressing needs can feel reasonably good about addressing one there as well. Not Washington.
With just one of the first 70 picks in the draft, the Commanders can confidently upgrade one of those four areas of need and hope for the best later in the draft.
Before we get into our recommendation, let’s survey the mock drafts of several notable draft analysts to see who they project Washington to take at No. 7:
ESPN’s Mel Kiper Jr.: Ohio State LB Sonny Styles
The Ringer’s Todd McShay: Ohio State LB Sonny Sytles
ESPN’s Field Yates: Notre Dame RB Jeremiyah Love
ESPN’s Matt Miller: LSU CB Mansoor Delane
NFL.com’s Daniel Jeremiah: Miami EDGE Rueben Bain Jr.
NFL.com’s Bucky Brooks: Ohio State S Caleb Downs
Quite the lack of consensus!
We’re starting to get to the point of the first round where much is predicated on the decisions already made by other teams.
For example, we wouldn’t be surprised at all if Bain, Love and Styles are already off the board at No. 7.
(In this series so far, we recommended Bain to the Titans at No. 4 and Styles to the Giants at No. 5.)
Given the substantial money Washington spent in free agency on edge rushers, we also don’t see the need to use the No. 7 pick to double-down further there with more pressing needs in play.
The ideal pick for the Commanders at No. 7 would be Styles, the uber-athletic 6-foot-5, 244-pound Ohio State linebacker who was central to arguably the best defense in college football and then put up historic testing numbers at the NFL Scouting Combine. He posted the fastest 40-yard dash time among linebackers (4.46 seconds) who tested in Indianapolis, the highest vertical jump (43.5 inches) by a linebacker at the combine since at least 2003 and an 11-foot, 2-inch broad jump while earning a perfect 10.00 Relative Athletic Score.
There’s a reason the Commanders let Wagner hit free agency after such a productive season despite his age (PFF graded him 9th out of 88 qualifying LBs last year at a 78.6) and yet also haven’t publicly ruled out his return, with Quinn saying last month, “We would never shut the door on him.”
Washington wanting Styles to complete its offseason agenda to get younger and faster on defense seems clear as can be (with re-signing Wagner a potential Plan B if they don’t land Styles in the draft).
Of the four mock drafts surveyed above that didn’t have Washington taking Styles, that’s mostly because three had him off the board already (to the Titans or Giants at picks 4-5).
So IF Styles is available, he is our pick for Washington.
If he’s not …
We’re getting to the point of the draft where Downs becomes hard to ignore. After all, he’s viewed as one of the best safety prospects to come along in years, was the Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year and a two-time consensus first-team All-American for Ohio State. He’d likely be an immediate upgrade over Martin and form an impressive safety tandem with Cross.
Cornerback is also a need, but this feels high in the draft for Delane. Most mock drafts have the LSU standout in the 9-11 range at the earliest, and we’d agree with that assessment.
Then there’s wide receiver and running back.
So far in this series, we’ve been hesitant to recommend Love to the teams where he otherwise fits (Titans, Giants, Browns) solely because they have so many other needs at this point in their rebuild that drafting a running back — even a potentially elite one — so early feels like a luxury reach.
The Commanders are a different story, though. Again, they made the NFC championship game in Daniels’ lone healthy season, so they absolutely should be thinking big for 2026.
Love is viewed as the next generational talent at the position — like Bijan Robinson — and is the No. 1 overall draft prospect at any position on McShay’s newly published “Big Board.”
If available, he would raise the potential and profile of Washington’s offense substantially. Imagine a run-heavy scheme with Love, Croskey-Merritt and the dual-threat Daniels wearing down defenses — it’s an almost perfect match for a defensive-minded head coach like Quinn.
Running back isn’t even Washington’s most pressing need on the offensive side — that’s clearly wide receiver — but sometimes “best available talent” trumps need.
If Love is available at No. 7, he’s starting to look like a value at that spot and a difference-making piece for a team that could be ready to contend in 2026.
We like the consensus top 3 wide receivers in this draft — Ohio State’s Carnell Tate followed in some order by Arizona State’s Jordyn Tyson and USC’s Makai Lemon — and landing any of the three would be a boon for this roster as well.
But as we broke down Sunday, there’s a wealth of truly high-upside Day 2/3 WR talent in this draft — far more than recent drafts, in our opinion. Washington can take a shot at striking big on a No. 2 WR complement to McLaurin with that early third-round pick.
So our recommendation for the Commanders, pending who is available at No. 7, is:
– Draft Styles and complete the job of transforming into a younger, faster, higher-upside defense throughout the front seven. He had 182 tackles, 17 tackles for loss, 7 sacks, an interception and a forced fumble over the last two seasons combined for an Ohio State defense that won a national championship while giving up the fewest points in college football (12.9 PPG) and then was even more stifling in 2025 (9.3 PPG allowed).
– If Styles is unavailable and Love is on the board, pounce on a potential future top-5 NFL RB because he’s the best talent available and too good to pass up here.
– If Styles and Love are gone, feel good about bringing in Downs, who might be as much of a sure thing to translate to the next level as any top prospect, and again adding to the defensive overhaul that was clearly the priority of the offseason. In three college seasons (one at Alabama and two at Ohio State), Downs had 257 tackles, 16 TFLs, 6 INTs, 12 passes defended and 3 forced fumbles, but given how few snaps the Buckeyes’ opponents got on offense the raw stats don’t tell the whole story.
– Otherwise, take the top available wide receiver. We recommended the equally WR-needy Browns take Tate at No. 6. If he’s also gone, we like Lemon, the Biletnikoff Award winner from USC who plays in the mold of Amon-Ra St. Brown and Puka Nacua with a relentless intensity and physicality but also elite hands and route-running abilities.
Honestly, Washington can’t go wrong with any of those four scenarios — the Commanders are in an enviable position and may be able to largely let the draft make the decision for them.
