How Commanders’ 2021 draft class stacks up against rest of NFL

The 2022 NFL Draft is just over a month away and with countless prospects showing out at the  Combine, excitement is growing.

The Washington Commanders own the No. 11 overall pick, and nobody knows what direction they’ll go. Given the underwhelming return from last year’s No. 19 overall selection, Jamin Davis, and the 2021 draft class as a hole, the pressure will be on Ron Rivera and the rest of the front office to hit a home run this time around.

With draft talk heating up around the league, NFL Media went ahead and ranked every team’s 2021 rookie class.

As you might’ve expected, the Commanders’ class ranked near the bottom of the pack at No. 22, two slots behind the division-rival Giants.

How did the Commanders’ 2021 draft class stack up against the rest of the NFL this season?

This shouldn’t come as a surprise. Any time a first-round selection, especially one that was considered a reach by most draft evaluators, fails to meet expectations, your class isn’t going to get rave reviews. That’s just the way it goes.

The article’s analysis on Washington’s 2021 rookie class is a mouthful, so we’ll only provide its snippet on Davis and Sam Cosmi.

"Davis arrived with much fanfare, rocketing up draft boards thanks to his premier athleticism, but he was slow to adjust to the NFL. That doesn’t mean his future isn’t still bright; he just didn’t provide the expected return as a rookie. Cosmi struggled with injuries, but not with performance, impressing evaluators with his run-blocking ability. He’ll need to be better in the passing game, but he provided enough proof for PFF to name him as the Commanders’ early breakout candidate for 2022."

That’s pretty spot-on, if you ask us. While Rivera and Co. deserve blame for miscalculating on Davis’ fit in the NFL (the plan is to switch him to an off-ball role in 2022), there’s plenty of reason to be bullish on his future.

Cosmi, on the other hand, would’ve gotten the nod for the team’s best rookie performer if he played more.

That title belongs to John Bates, Washington’s fourth-round pick who impressed filling in for the injured Logan Thomas and Ricky Seals-Jones. While the Boise State product was dominant as a run-blocker (87.6 PFF grade) his emergence as an intermediate pass-catcher has fans excited for what the future holds.

Like most Commanders fans, the article is excited about the potential of third-rounder Benjamin St-Juste. However, missing nearly half the season in concussion protocol is worrying for both his short- and long-term outlook.

As for Dyami Brown, writer Nick Shook defended the third-round receiver by highlighting Ryan Fitzpatrick’s injury. The veteran’s gunslinger mentality would’ve played right into Browns’ deep ball prowess. Alas, backup Taylor Heinicke’s limitations as a pocket passer kind of made Brown superfluous in the offense.

With that said, fans still expected more from Brown than a 34% snap share and 12 receptions for 165 yards over a 15-game sample size.

The rest of the class were largely bench stashes, save sixth-round long snapper Camaron Cheeseman, who looked the part as a rookie.

Darrick Forrest was mostly a special teamer after he returned from injury, Dax Milne hardly saw the field as a receiver and William Bradley-King spent most of the year on the practice squad. Shaka Toney was the most impressive of the non-Cheeseman crowd and should have a spot on the 53-man roster as a rotational piece along the edge behind Chase Young and Montez Sweat.

All in all, it wasn’t a disaster draft from the Commanders. However, if they don’t make a considerable leap from the 23rd spot this time next year (assuming they have their first pick, obviously), there will definitely be some explaining to do.