Washington Commanders Tied to Speed Freak with No. 7 Pick in NFL Draft
The Washington Commanders can’t run from the fact that they dropped the ball last season. While injuries played a major factor, the players who were healthy didn’t live up to the standard set in 2024, when Washington reached the NFC Conference Championship. The good news is that the Commanders’ ugly season set them up to land a blue-chip prospect with the seventh overall pick in the first round of the 2026 NFL Draft.
In roughly two weeks, the Commanders will be adding a potential star talent to the roster. So, who could the Commanders add? Recently, Essentially Sports’ NFL insider Tony Pauline used his intel to predict what the Commanders might do with their first-round pick.
While doing so, he said LSU’s cornerback Mansoor Delane “could end up being drafted as early as the seventh pick. ” Though, Pauline also cautioned that Delane could be a target of the Kansas City Chiefs , who hold the ninth overall pick in the first round. Of course, if Delane is truly the Commanders’ top target, the Chiefs would have to leap ahead of Washington, but Kansas City also has the 29th overall pick to use as ammo.
Delane is viewed as the best cornerback prospect in the draft class, and a status he cemented after clocking a blistering 4. 38-second 40-yard dash at the NFL Scouting Combine. He’s viewed as a likely top-15 pick, so Washington selecting him seventh could certainly be in play, as Pauline hinted at.
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