Mock Draft Monday: 3 Commanders Mock Drafts

Breaking down 3 different mock draft scenarios for the Commanders

It’s draft week! We’re only a few days away from the start of the 2025 NFL Draft. As it’s Monday, I thought I’d kick off the week with another mock draft Monday. You all seemed to enjoy the three mocks I put together last week, so let's try another three from the same Pro Football & Sports Network mock draft simulator machine I used last week.

Scenario 1

I was hoping to get a trade back offer in this first scenario but the phone wasn’t ringing. One of the worst case scenarios for the Commanders happened here. All of the top edge rushers were gone. There was a run in the late teens on the top guys and then the Ravens took Donovan Ezeiruaku at 27 while the Lions took James Pearce Jr at 28. I probably wouldn’t have taken Pearce anyway, but it meant there wasn’t great value in an edge rusher at 29. With no trade offers available, I had to look at other positions. I strongly considered Ohio State wide receiver Emeka Egbuka as one of the top talents available, as well as UNC running back Omarion Hampton. But I decided to go defense.

First round, pick 29 - Trey Amos, CB, Ole Miss

I decided to go cornerback with my first pick instead of taking one of the offensive weapons available. Trey Amos might not be the perfect fit for what the Commanders are looking for right now, but he might provide them with some flexibility to explore some different schemes instead. While he profiles as a long, physical press corner, he’s actually at his best playing off the line of scrimmage. He excels with match coverages, passing off and picking up routes based on their releases. In Dallas, Dan Quinn had the Cowboys play a lot of man-match coverages, where they played man coverage, but only after the receivers had declared their releases and the defenders could match with the route closest to them, giving them better leverage. Amos plays best from off with vision, where he can read multiple receivers and match his coverage accordingly.

The Commanders have other corner profiles capable of playing this type of coverage too. Marshon Lattimore is very experienced and can play in this style while Mike Sainristil is a smart corner that plays best with vision as well. Adding Amos to that would give the Commanders a secondary with a wide range of skills and capable of playing a variety of coverages. Amos still has the upside of being a long, athletic corner that can improve in press man coverage, if the Commanders still want to stick with that, but he can also play zone or the match coverages I just mentioned. Adding his size and length on the outside would enable Sainristil to go back inside to the slot and move Jonathan Jones into a primary back up role alongside Noah Igbinoghene.

That feels like a much more sound secondary with a good mix of youth and experience, giving the Commanders an immediate improvement but also the foundation of pieces like Amos and Sainristil to build around going forward. It might not be the edge rusher pick that most fans are looking for at 29, but Amos would be a very sound addition to the Commanders.

Second round, pick 61 - Oluwafemi Oladejo, DE, UCLA

Oladejo has been a popular pick among Commanders fans for the past few months. I’ve seen some suggesting he could be in play at 29, but that would be a bit too rich for me. At 61, I’m more willing to take a shot on him. Oladejo is a recent convert to defensive end from linebacker, meaning he’s still very much a work in progress at the position. However, we saw last year with Mike Sainristil and Luke McCaffrey that the Commanders aren’t afraid to take a player that has only recently changed position. At 6-foot-3, 260 pounds, Oladejo is perhaps slightly undersized for a prototype 4-3 defensive end, but he does have good length with nearly 34-inch arms.

As a pass rusher, he’s still very raw. He does have a very nice cross chop move, where he uses his inside arm to chop across to the outside arm of the tackle and knock it down, clearing a path to the edge. But he’s overly reliant on that one move right now, which isn’t a huge surprise given his recent position change. There is reason to believe he can improve though. The playstyle isn’t too dissimilar to Commanders linebacker Frankie Luvu, where he plays at 100% on every single snap. He’s willing to be physical and mix it up with the bigger bodies, he just lacks the technique to beat them consistently right now. He will win some blocks through his relentlessness and physicality, like Luvu does, but if he’s lining up on the edge every snap, he’ll need more than that going forward.

What Oladejo could bring in his rookie year is some more scheme flexibility. I mentioned with Amos about being able to play more types of coverages, well Oladejo is similar. As a former linebacker, Oladejo is familiar with dropping into coverage. One of the Commanders most successful schemes last year was a package of Tampa-2 simulated pressures. These were plays where they only rushed four and played Tampa-2 behind it, but they would change up which four players were rushing, making it look like a blitz. They’d frequently send Luvu or Bobby Wagner on a rush inside while dropping a defensive end into coverage to replace them. Oladejo could be a useful piece on that type of scheme because of his familiarity with dropping into coverage.

I think he’s a bit more raw as a prospect than what a lot of Commanders fans are expecting, which is why I wouldn’t take him at 29. But at 61 the value is a lot better. The Commanders will almost certainly love the character too. He comes across as a real leader that people gravitate towards and that’s the type of player you want to bet on. The Commanders will have first-hand knowledge of that too, as linebacker coach Ken Norton Jr. coached him at UCLA before joining the Commanders last year.

Fourth round, pick 128 - Anthony Belton, OT, NC State

I only caught on to Belton recently, when the Commanders had him in for a top 30 visit. But after watching a few games I came away pretty impressed. Belton is a monstrous human being, measuring in at 6-foot-6, 336 pounds with 34-inch arms. He loves to throw that weight around too, mauling people in the run game. His highlight reel of pancakes in the run game is fun to watch. Despite his size, Belton is quite a fluid mover. He’s not Trent Williams, few are, but for a man of his size, he’s nimble on his feet and able to get out and block in space on screens and perimeter runs. That also helps in pass protection, where he has quick enough feet to cut off speed rushers on the edge.

Where he can struggle is redirecting. Naturally, it takes a lot to stop his momentum once he gets going. So when rushers come at him with an inside counter move, it can be hard for him to stop and start his feet to redirect back inside and cut it off. He could also improve with his hands, both with timing his punches and his placement of them. But they do pack a punch when he lands them and there’s definitely some upside with Belton as a pass protector. Some wonder if that redirect issues might lead to a transition to guard in the NFL, but I think he could have a shot to make it as a right tackle first.

Scenario 2

Having failed to land a trade in my first mock, I was more determined to trade back in my second. However, I got a rare and fun scenario worth taking a look at, so opted against trading back, despite having multiple offers to do so.