10 prospects Commanders should avoid in the 2024 NFL Draft

Commanders should avoid Devontez Walker

• Wide Receiver | North Carolina Tar Heels

Every year, it seems there are a couple of players who I just don’t get. Devontez Walker has remarkable physical tools. His size and speed make him look like an NFL wide receiver. There's just something missing.

I don’t think he has very good skills. All the things that go into making a good professional receiver - hands, route-running, blocking - those things are missing from Walker’s game. He is a one-dimensional deep threat. Although he can look very good in contested catch situations, he also is more prone to drops than you’d like to see.

It is a deep NFL Draft class for receivers. There are better options for the Washington Commanders than Walker despite his appealing upside.

Commanders should avoid Xavier Worthy

• Wide Receiver | Texas Longhorns

Xavier Worthy has a slight frame, but I consider him a genuine wide receiver with good hands and decent route-running. In other words, he is more than just a sprinter in a football jersey. But then came his 4.21-second 40-yard dash at the NFL Scouting Combine and he began flying up draft boards.

A third or fourth-round pick soared into the first or second in almost the blink of an eye. That’s too high for Worthy. Given his frame, I initially compared the Texas prospect to DeVonta Smith, but that comp vanished almost immediately.

Smith shows better route-running with elite toughness and concentration. Worthy is good, but nowhere near that level yet. Still, that 40-time will push him up.

Smith didn’t run at the Combine in 2021, but seven other receivers did put up blistering times. Of those seven, only Ja’Marr Chase has turned out to be a top-tier professional. Elite speed numbers can at times be as much of a curse as a blessing for a receiving prospect.

Commanders should avoid all QBs outside the top six

Brock Purdy, Tony Romo, and Tom Brady. Every decade or so, some quarterback comes from way down the draft board and shocks the world. Dak Prescott went on Day 3, and from what I am told, some people like him. That should not cloud the fact that quarterbacks taken after the third round have an extremely low success rate.

This year, Bo Nix is the cutoff. I see no reason to spend a draft pick on Spencer Rattler, Michael Pratt, Austin Reed, or Joe Milton III. Each has his supporters - maybe one of them will become a serviceable backup and spot starter - but the value simply isn’t there.

If Jordan Travis or Carter Bradley were to slip through the draft, I would pounce on either as an undrafted free agent, but it’s not worth one of the Commanders' picks once they take a signal-caller at No. 2. Despite Purdy, the 2020 draft class is far more typical.

That year, five quarterbacks were selected in the first two days. All are starting in the NFL. Eight others were taken on Day 3. Only two are still in the league, one being Washington’s Jake Fromm, and they will both face challenges making a roster this season.

The others are scattered across other leagues or out of football entirely. That was just four years ago. Should the Commanders end up drafting one of these players, I will swallow my pride and root for them to prove me completely wrong. It has been known to happen before. I just don't like the odds.