Cornerbacks the Commanders Should Consider in the 2026 Draft

BATON ROUGE, LOUISIANA - NOVEMBER 15: Mansoor Delane #4 of the LSU Tigers celebrates after an interception against the Arkansas Razorbacks at Tiger Stadium on November 15, 2025 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. (Photo by Ella Hall/LSU/University Images via Getty Images) In the first wave of free agency, the Commanders did a great job of filling roster holes and raising the talent floor. But they couldn’t fix everything.

Heading into the draft, the team still has major weakness to shore up at wide receiver, center and cornerback among other position groups. With no obvious starter to line up across from Trey Amos on opening day, it should come as no surprise if Adam Peters uses the seventh overall pick on a cornerback. But if he decides to go another direction at 7, or trades back to acquire more picks, there are multiple potential first-year starters who should be available later in the first and second rounds.

They lead a deep CB draft class, providing options to build depth at the position right through the end of Day 3. For this round-up I used advanced statistics from Pro Football Focus to identify cornerbacks with outstanding productivity at the college level who are good fits to the defensive scheme that Daronte Jones is expected to run, following his prior experience working for Brian Flores in Minnesota. As the Vikings’ Passing Game Coordinator, Jones coordinated the back end of an ultra-aggressive, blitz-heavy defensive scheme.

A key departure from traditional defenses is that high pressure looks were often supported by zone coverage, instead of man. Daronte’s “position agnostic” secondary made use of five, interchangeable defensive backs, running heavy doses of Cover 2 and Cover 0 (no safety help) to support different pressure packages. But the DBs were also required to play man coverage in certain looks when linebackers are brought forward to force fast decisions.