Commanders drafted Braeden Daniels
K.J. Henry and Quan Martin may one day prove to be valuable contributors to the Washington Commanders. I fear the same will not be the case for Braeden Daniels.
Again, we have seen very little of him so far and he could grow into a much better player. But the fact remains that had Daniels not torn his rotator cuff at the end of preseason, there’s a very good chance he would not have made Washington's 53-man roster.
Daniels looks like another in a never-ending lineage of college tackles selected by the Commanders who simply cannot play outside in the pros. Brandon Scherff, Saahdiq Charles, Sam Cosmi – the list goes on and on.
I have no idea why Washington seems incapable of evaluating college tackles. That’s why virtually every player the Commanders have lined up on the edge in the past five years has been a free-agent castoff from another team.
If Daniels cannot play tackle, he should not be on the team. Especially since I just acquired O’Cyrus Torrence. I fear he cannot play tackle. And, in case you need reminding, this was a fourth-round pick.
Washington got Percy Butler in the fourth round of the 2022 draft and John Bates in 2021. These are not stars, but they do play valuable minutes. At this point, it’s hard to envision Daniels contributing valuable reps next season.
Another player I really wanted was picked 14 spots later when the Pittsburgh Steelers took Nick Herbig.
Herbig is a tweener. His skill set translates as an edge rusher. His size makes him an outside linebacker. What scared teams off was the possibility that perhaps he could not fill either role at the pro level.
But a lot of us saw what the Steelers saw - an extremely productive guy who makes plays all over the field. The Commanders could have used him to pick up the pass rush slack that might have resulted from bypassing Henry. Or they may have used him as a linebacker in conjunction with my final regret.