Commanders 7-round 2024 NFL mock draft: Filling needs edition

Commanders draft Joe Alt

• Offensive Tackle | Notre Dame Fighting Irish
• No. 4 overall

As far as I’m concerned, Joe Alt is the key to the entire draft. I would take him at No. 1 if I had the first pick.

The Washington Commanders desperately need to stop the nickel and diming they have been doing on the offensive line. They have been getting by with free-agent cast-offs for years.

Charles Leno Jr. has been a steadying presence but he is not getting any younger or better. Washington needs a cornerstone left tackle, which has been missing since they decided to trade Trent Williams.

That cornerstone is a 6-foot-8, 322-pound left tackle with great athleticism and first-rate technique. Alt steps in as your starting left tackle from Day 1 and hopefully is there for 10 years.

There are a few other quality tackles in the draft, but I can’t say that about any of the others. This pick is so important that if Alt is gone by pick No. 4, I think you trade back.

I like both the massive J.C. Latham and Penn State’s prototypical Olumuyiwa Fashanu, but I think both might struggle early on. Trading back for one of them would be a decent plan B.

Others to consider: J.C. Latham, Olumuyiwa Fashanu, Marvin Harrison Jr. - if he is on the board, you have to at least think about him, but I’d still go with a tackle.