Adam Peters had determined for some time that Jayden Daniels would be the Commanders’ selection with the second overall pick of the 2024 NFL draft.
Can you imagine if Washington had determined to go ahead and accept a trade with the Raiders, who desperately wanted Daniels? What one month ago seemed doable and practical and would have reaped long-term benefits in providing the Commanders multiple good draft choices last Thursday night would have been an utter disaster!
Which draft analyst had predicted that six of the first 12 selections would be quarterbacks? Nobody saw Michael Penix and Bo Nix being selected in the top 12 choices, nobody.
Thus, had the Commanders made a deal with the Raiders, who wanted Daniels, the Commanders would have been left at No. 13 with no first-round quarterback remaining.
Who could have imagined that the Falcons, after signing Kirk Cousins to a more than $100 million contract, would use a pick as high as eighth on another quarterback? No one saw that coming, either.
When the Falcons shocked everyone in selecting Penix, the Vikings also in need of a quarterback, traded with the Jets to ensure they would receive Michigan quarterback J.J. McCarthy with the tenth selection.
The Broncos selected at No. 12 and then took Oregon’s Bo Nix because if they wanted a top quarterback, Nix was the only one remaining, though he had been mocked by nearly every analyst as being selected either late in round one or round two.
Consequently, if the Commanders had traded with the Raiders, they would have only served to have outsmarted themselves, being without a single quarterback worthy of being selected at No. 13.
In fact, there was such a drop-off into the next tier of quarterbacks that the next quarterback selected did not occur until the New Orleans Saints drafted South Carolina’s Spencer Rattler with the 150th selection. That is not a misprint. Yes, No. 150.
Commanders fans can be glad that Commanders GM Adam Peters made his draft-day trade in the second round rather than the first round. This decision enabled the Commanders to gain an extra selection in the second round while also holding on to their No. 2 overall selection, where they could take the second quarterback in this year’s rookie class.
Peters illustrated why you don’t simply trade down for the sake of trading down and gaining multiple draft picks.
As it was written about three thousand years ago in the ancient Old Testament book of Ecclesiastes, “There is a time and a place for everything” (including when to trade down and when not to trade down in an NFL draft).