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The Washington Commanders' 2026 NFL Draft class should have fans excited for the upcoming season! Kevin Sheehan gives his thoughts and analysis on the Commanders' draft picks from the 2026 NFL Draft with standouts like Sonny Styles and Antonio Williams headlining the class.
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00:00This from Rich, I know that you think the draft grades and the winners losers segments are for losers, but
00:09can you at least tell us a little bit about what you thought of the picks over the weekend?
00:15I think I did that.
00:17Didn't I go through the list?
00:19I mean, if I didn't, I'll do it real quickly.
00:21I did like the Sonny Stiles pick, and I do have opinions on the draft.
00:26We all have opinions on the draft.
00:28My opinions are usually less driven by whatever happened after the season, that being the college football season, and more
00:38having to do with what actually happened in the games in which the players played it.
00:43And so that's what typically impacts or drives my opinion of players.
00:49I didn't really have super strong opinions about anybody that they drafted.
00:55I told you before the draft the players that I really, really liked in this draft.
00:59Like, if they got David Bailey, if they got Reuben Bain, and Reuben Bain was on the board, and I'm
01:04okay with them not taking Reuben Bain because there is so much about the analytics of short arms with that
01:10position that they know that we don't know, we think we know.
01:14And there's more involved in Reuben Bain, I believe there may be some more due diligence uncoverings.
01:23So I'm okay with that.
01:25I liked Sonny Stiles.
01:27I think Sonny Stiles on the field was a big-time producer, and at 21, has a lot of room
01:35to grow both physically, mentally, and certainly from a performance standpoint.
01:40Not to mention it fills a huge need.
01:42So I did very much like the pick of Stiles.
01:47When Max and I did our draft preview and we were just talking about the players that we like, I
01:52said, Bailey or Bain?
01:53If not, I'd prefer a trade back if it's available.
01:56If it's not available and they have to pick at seven, I hope Stiles is there.
02:01I hope Tate is there.
02:02I hope Delane is there.
02:04Those were the three players.
02:05And Downs as well.
02:07So I'm fine.
02:08I think Sonny Stiles is going to be a good player for us.
02:11I think the floor, based on his college performance, not the Indy Combine numbers, which he blew away, all right,
02:19based on his college performance, based on his age, based on his incredibly high IQ, according to everybody, his work
02:27ethic, the culture that he likes to be around and in and create, I feel really good about that pick.
02:35The rest of it, I do like Antonio Williams.
02:39I mean, I didn't talk a lot about Antonio Williams prior to the draft.
02:44I'll concede that when they were on the clock at 71, I was hoping for Zachariah Branch.
02:50I was hoping for Ted Hurst in terms of a wide receiver, if they were going to pick a wide
02:54receiver.
02:55And when Antonio Williams popped up as the pick, certainly, if you're a college football fan, you see enough of
03:02Clemson, you know who Antonio Williams is.
03:04But we didn't talk a lot about him at all before the draft.
03:08So I spent some time.
03:09I like his route running.
03:11I love his hands.
03:12I love the way he is pretty good after the catch.
03:16He doesn't strike me as a burner.
03:19And I know he ran for one.
03:22But I like the pick.
03:24I think he has a chance to be a good player.
03:26Look, I think they're going to add Brandon Ayuk.
03:28I do.
03:28I think the chances are 80%, at least, that they're going to add Brandon Ayuk at some point.
03:37Brandon Ayuk wants to play here.
03:39Now, there is new stuff surrounding Brandon Ayuk.
03:43Like, once again, no one can get in touch with him.
03:46This is a problem.
03:47Like, this guy clearly has issues.
03:50Now, are the issues specific to just one employer?
03:55Or is this going to be the way he behaves with any employer?
04:01That's something they'll have to figure out.
04:03Obviously, Adam Peters knows the player, knows the person.
04:07So does our quarterback.
04:09What would be so interesting, so interesting, is if they did finally release him and Washington didn't sign him.
04:16That would be the all-time red flag for any other team considering.
04:21Because Washington, other than the 49ers, you would think, knows the player better than anybody else.
04:27But I do think that the chances are, you know, high, very high, that Brandon Ayuk ends up being an
04:34addition.
04:35And whether or not it's Antonio Williams who's that third receiver and that slot receiver, or perhaps Luke McCaffrey, I
04:43haven't given up on Luke McCaffrey.
04:44I hope you guys haven't either.
04:46I thought he had some good moments last year.
04:48Certainly the catch at the end of the first half against the Rams on the road.
04:54Against the Chargers, excuse me, on the road at SoFi.
04:57He had that beautifully designed touchdown catch on Monday Night Football against the Bears.
05:02He was a really good kickoff returner for this team.
05:06So was Deebo Samuel.
05:07They had very good special teams.
05:09You know, we didn't, we emphasized that as the season went along.
05:13You know, per DVOA, I think they were number two or number three in the league, special teams unit-wise.
05:18Larry Izzo doing a great job.
05:20But I haven't given up on Luke McCaffrey.
05:22Not yet.
05:23But, you know, the receiver room's coming together.
05:26It's still not great.
05:27They still don't have a true number two receiver.
05:31That's the problem right now.
05:33They don't have a true number two.
05:34They don't have somebody that can change the way the line of scrimmage is played defensively.
05:43So the box is played defensively.
05:47You need somebody else.
05:49An Ayuk from 2023, Terry McLaurin, and either an Antonio Williams or a Luke McCaffrey.
05:56I like the player.
05:58I mean, after watching a lot more of the player over the weekend, I do like the player.
06:02I think there's a good chance.
06:04That he ends up not only making the team, but being an early contributor.
06:08He is a polished route runner.
06:12The pick that I liked the most out of the other five after spending Friday's show on Styles is I
06:21do like Catron Allen.
06:23I talked about him before the draft.
06:25He was one of the running backs I liked.
06:27I liked him more than Singleton.
06:29He's played so much football.
06:31One thing I did not know until over the weekend, I did not know that Catron Allen was the all
06:36-time Penn State leading rusher.
06:38Now, he played four years.
06:39They played more games than they did back when Kurt Warner was the running back way back in the day
06:44at Penn State.
06:45But he is an absolute vision, good feet, good yards after contact, making people miss in tight spaces.
06:57I think he's going to be a good back if that's what they're looking for.
07:02You know, Krosky Merritt probably isn't that back, but Rashad White could be.
07:06Rashad White has excellent between-the-tackles vision.
07:09You know, I know some of you believe that Rashad White's just a throwaway signing.
07:14I'm in a different camp, I think.
07:17I think they believe that Rashad White can really help, that he is a solid first-down back as a
07:24rusher.
07:25He's not a home-run threat by any stretch, but he's similar to Allen in some ways,
07:31but with the experience of being a very good pass protector and a good receiver, something Catron Allen is not.
07:37But I do like Catron Allen.
07:40In terms of the other three players, I don't have strong opinions on any of them.
07:43I have no clue if Matt Gulbin is, you know, capable of being a starting center.
07:51I'm really not overly blown away with the tape on Joshua Josephs, other than he is fast off the edge.
08:03Steve Suter is going to be back on the show today to break down the other five picks.
08:09We'll get what he thinks about Williams, Josephs, Allen, Gulbin, and the quarterback from Rutgers, who he saw a lot
08:15of.
08:15Look, calling Maryland games, they've got four Big Ten players that he saw, you know, multiple times.
08:22Stiles, Catron Allen, Gulbin not so much because he was a transfer into Michigan State this year.
08:28And then the quarterback from Rutgers, who was a gamer as a quarterback, I think I mentioned that yesterday, always
08:33seemed to be able to create something.
08:35But should they have used that pick on somebody else that has a chance to make an impact, like a
08:43Cameron Curl, who was picked in the seventh round, like a Krosky Merritt, who was picked in the seventh round?
08:49Yeah, I'm okay with those of you that think that.
08:52I mean, I think ultimately they do have to have an answer to the departure eventually of Marcus Mariota.
09:00I mean, I guess Marcus Mariota, what now, 33 years old?
09:04Is that what Mariota is?
09:06I think that's what he is.
09:09I guess he could stay here for another five years.
09:12I mean, as a backup quarterback, why not?
09:15He's 32.
09:17I mean, if he's happy here, and players do seem to be happy here, I mean, it's true.
09:28It's actually true that players actually like playing in this organization.
09:34I think a lot of it has to do with Dan Quinn and the kind of people and the kind
09:39of coaches he's brought in.
09:41There is no doubt that Dan Quinn seems to be a guy that players really like, not because he's easy,
09:51but because they really respect the way they are treated by him.
09:57So, is it possible Marcus Mariota could be a backup quarterback for this team for the next few years?
10:03You know, what did they pay him this year?
10:06Six, seven million?
10:07What was the number?
10:07It was a little bit less than last year, right?
10:10I think it was six or seven million.
10:15But, you know, you've got to plan for, yeah, one year, seven million for this year.
10:21You've got to plan for the potential that Marcus Mariota might get a better opportunity, might decide he wants to
10:27go back west.
10:28That was part of his decision-making this offseason, that he considered going back closer to home, you know, being
10:36on the west coast somewhere.
10:37So, that may happen soon.
10:39So, I'm not – I can't kill him for drafting, you know, a quarterback that maybe they believe could be
10:48a backup quarterback when Mariota leaves right now, getting him into the system early.
10:53They added a kicker yesterday.
10:55I don't know if you guys saw this.
10:58Drew Stevens from Iowa, who, when we talked about kickers last week or the week before, he was one of
11:06the names that came up.
11:07Because I would not be surprised if this was a guy that they were high on and this was a
11:13guy that maybe even was considered to be drafted.
11:18Because he was one of those kickers before the draft that we – there was some talk that more kickers
11:25could get drafted.
11:27Stevens has a big leg.
11:29He was 22 of 27 this past season on field goals.
11:33He did have a 58-yarder, a 55-yarder, a 54-yarder, and a 52-yarder.
11:39But the 58-yarder that he hit against Oregon in a game that was played in miserable Iowa City conditions,
11:47it was a great football game, by the way.
11:5018-16.
11:51It was such a good game.
11:53In fact, in some ways, it was Dante Moore's best game, even though statistically it wasn't.
11:59But he was so clutch in the fourth quarter, and I thought it was the best moment for him as
12:07Oregon's starting quarterback.
12:08Obviously, he did not play very well in the playoff game that they lost.
12:13And that is why he is headed back to Eugene for another season.
12:17And in the all-too-earlies, Dante Moore is either number one quarterback, number two quarterback, or number three quarterback.
12:23Arch Manning seems to be the consensus.
12:26But then again, last year at this time, Nussmeyer and Klubnik were the consensus QB ones.
12:32Man, these way-too-earlies are way off pretty much every year.
12:37Should be a lesson as football fans that, you know, one season makes a huge difference in the outlook, on
12:47the projections, you know, on free agency.
12:50Like, I've mentioned this many times.
12:52The quarterbacks that were at the top of the way-too-early board a year ago were guys like Nussmeyer,
12:57Klubnik, Sellers, Manning, Dante Moore.
13:01And it ended up being Fernando Mendoza.
13:03Nobody mentioned him.
13:04Nobody mentioned Ty Simpson.
13:06They were the first two quarterbacks to go.
13:10Just like in September, if somebody had said Malik Willis is going to be the top quarterback in free agency,
13:17you would have needed your head examined by most people.
13:22Football is so dynamic these seasons.
13:26And it just changes.
13:28The NFL in particular really changes, as we've talked about for years, week to week, not even year to year.
13:35But the kicker, Drew Stevens, he's got a shot.
13:39You know, you've got two kickers, and that's a big position in today's NFL.
13:42Not that it always hasn't been.
13:44But now that you are one to two first downs away after a lot of kickoffs, you need the kicker
13:51with the big leg.
13:52One to two first downs away from field goal range is a huge advantage.
13:57Stevens has a big leg during the course of his career.
14:02He was 76 of 95 in four years at Iowa as their kicker.
14:06That's an 80% hit rate on field goals.
14:09It doesn't even make sense to look at PATs because college still kicks the PAT from 20 yards out, from
14:16the 10-yard line, 20-yard PAT.
14:18So it's completely different than the NFL.
14:21But on kicks of 50-plus during his career, 12 of 19 with the longest being in the driving rain
14:30temperature was in the upper 30s.
14:32I mean, it was a miserable day, and he booted a 58-yard field goal, which was a big-time
14:38field goal in the second half that they needed.
14:40He was four for six this year on kicks of 50 or longer.
14:44So I like that.
14:45I actually thought there was a chance they might draft a kicker.
14:50I'm glad they didn't have to draft one and could bring in a high-quality kicker like Stevens.
14:55But we all know the nature of kickers in the NFL, and that is, you know, very rarely is it
15:02the first team that they kind of find their, you know, stride.
15:07They hit their stride.
15:08It's usually the second or third team.
15:09And maybe that's a good thing for us with Jake Moody, who was a third-round draft choice of the
15:1749ers just a few years ago.
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