3 pros and cons to the Commanders drafting Bijan Robinson in 2023
By Dean Jones
Commanders would be ignoring critical needs
Drafting the best player available is a good mindset to have, in theory. However, it doesn’t appear as if the Washington Commanders have this luxury right now.
They have no money to sign further free agents currently. This further restricts their ambition to ignore critical needs and gamble on someone like Bijan Robinson with the team’s first-round selection.
As stated previously, the Commanders need to find a shutdown cornerback and a Day 1 starter on their offensive line. With any luck, these can be acquired with their first two picks before identifying other needs.
This is dependent on how the draft board plays out in front of them. But looking at the needs of others, there could be a run on offensive linemen and cornerbacks once the quarterback prospects get snapped up early.
Washington will be waiting with bated breath to see what options fall. The prospect of a slight trade-up to land their player of choice cannot be dismissed either.
Either way, the Commanders have too many key areas to improve to consider drafting someone like Robinson, no matter how exceptional of a prospect he is. This bears more significance when one considers how much is on the line for head coach Ron Rivera in 2023 with the prospect of new owners buying the team from Dan Snyder.