What WR Luke McCaffrey brings to the Washington Commanders

Breaking down what the Commanders are getting from their third round wide receiver

With the 100th pick, and the final pick of the third-round of the 2024 NFL Draft, the Washington Commanders selected wide receiver Luke McCaffrey out of Rice. McCaffrey is the younger brother of 49ers star running back Christian McCaffrey, who Commanders GM Adam Peters knows well. Luke is his own man though and Peters didn’t draft him as a favor to his brother. The Commanders drafted McCaffrey to boost their receiving room. So what exactly can he bring to the team? Let’s take a closer look. 

The 6-foot-2, 198 pound receiver profiles as a big slot receiver. The current trend of the NFL is to have slot receivers that are bigger than the traditional slot receiver profiles. This is primarily to gain an advantage in the run game. Defenses match slot receivers with smaller nickel corners, so if that slot receiver then aligns tight to the formation or motions into the formation, then the slot corner suddenly becomes part of the run fit and the offense in theory has a man to target. This is what has made Cooper Kupp and Puka Nacua so impactful for the Rams because not only are they great receivers, they cause matchup issues in the run game too. 

Now McCaffrey profiles as that type of bigger slot receiver, but at Rice I rarely saw him asked to block as part of the core run game. Perhaps that is something he can do and we just didn’t get to see it in college, but without seeing him block effectively, I can’t say for certain that’s the role he’ll be able to play from day one, though I suspect they will be trying to develop him into that down the line. So what can McCaffrey offer straight away? The trait that immediately stands out is his hands. McCaffrey has strong hands that enable him to pull off some terrific catches, even one-handed. 

Here are two examples of one-handed catches McCaffrey made this past season in college. On the first play of the clip, McCaffrey is isolated to the left of the formation and runs a fade route. He manages to gain a step on the defender but doesn’t quite pull away from him. That step is enough for the quarterback to decide to make the throw, however the ball isn’t thrown to the best spot. Instead of using the space to the sideline, the quarterback throws more inside, making it harder for McCaffrey to beat the coverage. Even so, McCaffrey does an outstanding job tracking the ball and making a diving one-handed catch. 

The second play of the clip is similar. McCaffrey aligns outside to the left and runs a fade down the sideline. He gets pressed a little too far to the sideline for my liking and doesn’t get as much of a lead on the defender as he did on the first play, but the quarterback clearly has great trust in his ability to go get the ball. McCaffrey repays that trust, using his right arm to hold off the trailing defender while reaching out with his left hand to pull in the one-handed catch. 

McCaffrey also displays great body control to go along with his strong hands. 

In this clip you’ll see how McCaffrey is comfortable making adjustments to poorly placed throws. On the first play of the clip, McCaffrey runs a choice route and breaks outside towards the sideline. He’s open as he breaks outside, but the ball is thrown behind him. He makes the adjustment look far easier than it actually is, turning his body fully around against his momentum to be able to extend his hands out and make a good contested catch while falling away from the ball. The second play of the clip is another fade route down the sideline, but this time the quarterback decides to go with a back-shoulder throw. McCaffrey struggles to get on top of his defender, so the back-shoulder throw is the right option, but it still requires a lot from McCaffrey to adjust his body at speed to get to a ball that is essentially thrown deliberately low and behind him. 

On top of having strong hands and good body control, McCaffrey displays great toughness. Toughness is a trait every GM, coach and scout says they desire in a player and it’s often just a buzzword that is thrown around and attached to tons of players during the draft cycle. But McCaffrey is one that has earned that toughness tag by showing a fearlessness to go over the middle and make contested catches without fear of taking a big hit.