Commanders Mock Draft: The ultimate trade-back in first round

With their second to last pick in the 2022 NFL Draft, I think Washington goes ahead and snags yet another defensive back, this time a true Free Safety out of the University of Michigan.

Brad Hawkins may not be on your radar as one of the top safeties in his class, but make no mistake about it. With true deep middle of the field range and the ability to be a sure tackler against the run, Hawkins could potentially carve out a rotational role within this Commanders defense rather quickly.

Hawkins had a missed tackle rate that placed him in the 75th percentile among all safeties last season, while earning a run defense grade of 84.9 for the Wolverines last year.

In coverage, he had a forced an incompletion rate of 20%, a ranking that places him in the upper 90th percentile among all safeties. Continuing, he allowed a passer rating of just 61.8 when targeted last year.

He’s played well over 1700 snaps as the Wolverine’s starting safety, with the bulk of his snaps recently coming as a deep safety. I think if Washington is looking to run some cover two concepts on the backend, potentially some cover one assignments with Hawkins as your deep safety, he displays the adequate range to fulfill that role if necessary.