The Washington Commanders hit a home run in the 2024 NFL draft, selecting quarterback Jayden Daniels at No. 2 overall. It's the kind of pick that could set up Washington for a decade or more of success. After seemingly decades of searching, the Commanders found their franchise quarterback.
When you find a quarterback, it can cover up misses elsewhere, which Daniels helped do in 2024, leading Washington to its best season in 33 years. In training camp, general manager Adam Peters traded away wide receiver Jahan Dotson. Peters thought so little of Dotson that he shipped him inside the division to the Philadelphia Eagles.
During the season, Peters released 2021 first-round pick Jamin Davis and 2023 first-round pick Emmanuel Forbes, meaning the only Washington first-round picks on the Commanders' roster were Daniels and defensive tackles Daron Payne (2018) and Jonathan Allen (2017).
Remarkably, Washington experienced that type of success with so few contributions from recent high draft picks. If you were to assess the Commanders' first-round success over a five-year period, they would probably rank pretty low among all 32 NFL teams. Most importantly, though, they nailed the Daniels' pick. It's good that Adam Peters is now picking players, not Ron Rivera.
But what if we went back 10 years? Daniel Kelley of FTN recently reviewed all 32 NFL teams' first-round picks over the last 10 years, ranking the 16 best and the 16 worst. You'd think Washington would land on the bad list, but that's not the case. On the 16 most successful teams in terms of first-round picks over the last 10 years, the Commanders ranked 16th.
The Commanders’ recent first-round history has very little middle ground. Brandon Scherff, Jonathan Allen, Daron Payne and (obviously) Jayden Daniels have been definite success stories, while Josh Doctson, Dwayne Haskins, Jahan Dotson and Emmanuel Forbes Jr. are as far in the opposite direction. A win probably counts more than a loss in this exercise — you’d take three Forbes picks for every one Daniels pick — but you’d definitely like more of a pattern of success.
It's really a rough list for Washington. But, there were some hits, including a huge one in Daniels. Here is every Washington first-round pick dating back to 2015:
- 2015: OL Brandon Scherff
- 2016: WR Josh Doctson
- 2017: DT Jonathan Allen
- 2018 DT Daron Payne
- 2019: QB Dwayne Haskins
- 2019: DE Montez Sweat
- 2020: DE Chase Young
- 2021: LB Jamin Davis
- 2022: WR Jahan Dotson
- 2023: CB Emmanuel Forbes
- 2024: QB Jayden Daniels
Amazingly, only Allen and Payne were ever awarded second contracts by Washington. Scherff played on two franchise tags and the Commanders tried to retain him, but he left after seven seasons. Sweat was a solid pick for Washington, but was traded at the 2023 trade deadline as new ownership readied for a rebuild. Young was also traded at the 2023 deadline.
Several picks on this list were disasters for Washington, which explains why Peters was forced to make multiple trades over the past year to increase the Commanders' talent level.
Fortunately, Washington has a quarterback.
This article originally appeared on Commanders Wire: Where does Commanders' first-round picks rank over last decade?
