Daily Slop – 7 Apr 25 – Commanders draft prospects: corners, edge rushers, and one “perfect fit” running back

A collection of articles, podcasts & tweets from around the web to keep you in touch with the Commanders, the NFC East, the NFL and sports in general, and a sprinkling of other stuff

Commanders links

Articles

Bullock’s Film Room (subscription)

NFL Draft Profile: RB TreVeyon Henderson

Many fans want to see the Commanders draft a running back to replace Brian Robinson as the main back, others want to see a more explosive piece to complement Robinson as a change of pace back and long term successor to Austin Ekeler. Fortunately, there is a deep draft full of quality running backs that can fill any sort of role you’re looking for. This week, I’m going to be looking at a few of those running back prospects, starting with the one I’ve seen most linked to Washington and the one that Commanders fans seem to love and talk about most.

Ohio State running back TreVeyon Henderson might be the perfect fit for the Washington Commanders as a change of pace running back and long term replacement for Austin Ekeler. Measuring in at 5-foot-10, 202 pounds, Henderson is a compact but explosive athlete with 4.43 40-yard dash speed. That speed makes him a home run threat, someone that is capable of breaking off a huge run and scoring from any position on the field.

With Hendersons speed and explosiveness, he’s always looking to find ways to rip off a long run. Sometimes that’s from bouncing his run outside, other times it comes from hitting runs to the back side.

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Commanders Wire

Commanders to host intriguing linebacker prospect on local pro day

All 32 NFL teams will hold a local pro day for NFL prospects who are either from the surrounding area or played college football in the area. The Washington Commanders are expected to host their local pro day sometime next week, two weeks before the 2025 NFL draft.

While we don’t have a complete list of players expected to attend, we know one name. According to Ryan Fowler of The Draft Network, Syracuse linebacker Marlowe Wax will attend Washington’s local pro day. In addition to the Commanders’ local pro day, Wax will also participate in local pro days for the Baltimore Ravens and Buffalo Bills.

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ESPN

How Ray Lewis and a prayer led TJ Maguranyanga to the Washington Commanders

Maguranyanga, who has converted to Edge Rusher, told ESPN of the origins of his interest in American football: “It started when I was a bit younger, just watching Ray Lewis and the Ravens.

“I found them pretty inspirational – just the physical side of the game – so I’d watch hyper videos of Ray Lewis before I played rugby games. That’s where it all started.”

While many NFL IPP and NFL Academy talents did not know the sport before they started playing it, Maguranyanga always held onto what seemed a distant dream of playing in the league.

He said: “Last year, when the documentary came out for the IPP, I’d been watching it a lot and hoping that this was what I was going to be able to do. From the time I was quite young, I was a bit delusional – thinking that I was going to be a two-sport athlete.

“I was going to play professional rugby and then switch to play American football. That had always been my dream.

“I drew up an email, but I decided not to send it. I just prayed about it. I was like: ‘If this is part of God’s plan for me, then somewhere in the future, the NFL will contact me.’”

His prayers were seemingly answered soon afterwards. He was approached to set up IPP trials the day after his season with Clermont ended last season. Some of the skills he learned in rugby, he took into his training for the Edge rusher positions.

Maguranyanga, who played on the wing, much like a running back combined with a wide receiver, explained: “Being able to track defenders and get off the line of scrimmage very quickly – those are things that translate very well between the two sports – just as well as the size and athleticism.

“We’ve got guys who are coming from playing against big guys in rugby and it will just be the same as American football.”

However, there are some adaptations he has had to make: “There’s a lot more cutting and change of direction in football and I’ll be running at a much lower height.

“In rugby, we can pretty much run upright and get into contact, but in football, you want to keep everything pretty low and compact.”

Maguranyanga will have to compete fiercely for [a roster spot] in a sport he has little experience in. However, being from a family that is effectively sporting royalty in Zimbabwe, he is receiving nothing but encouragement back home.

It is unlikely that he will play any significant role for the Commanders early on, but given Mailata’s Super Bowl success with the Eagles in 2025, the NFL IPP’s rugby converts can now so – more than ever – dare to dream.

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Commanders Wire

Is there a cornerback that would be good value for the Commanders at No. 29?

Here are some of the thoughts that [Jeremy] Greene offered last week regarding some of the corners believed to be in the top tier of mock drafts.

• Shavon Revel (6-3, 193, East Carolina), who Greene said is more of a read-and-react zone coverage corner. “I love Revel, he is in my top 20 overall. The medical on him is going to be fine, it was a clean tear. But I do like him better in zone.”
• “I love Trey Amos (6-1, 190, Ole Miss) if you are looking for someone that is going to play up in your face. Trey Amos plays like he is trying to get somebody in his family to tell him they are proud of him. He wants to get in everybody’s face. He is hyper aggressive…I love Trey Amos.”
• “If you are looking for somebody in the middle to late three, maybe even into four (round), Nohl Williams (6-1, 200, California). Williams has that aggressive, get into your face, aggressive, press man, really good with his hands, not super fast which I think will push him down.”
• “I’m in like, not love with Azareye’h Thomas (6-2, 198, Florida State). Look, I’m a Florida State guy. I can just tell you, I kept seeing him in the first round (mock drafts) going, ‘Don’t do that, don’t do that, you won’t like how that goes…He’s a bully corner that unfortunately is not all that fast.”
• Benjamin Morrison (6-0, 190, Notre Dame) “I love the player. But the injuries scare the heaper jeapers out of me. That hip makes me super nervous. He had the hip procedure during the season. He had another procedure after the season, and no one will tell me what it was. I have a second round grade on Morrison.”

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Podcasts & videos

I highly recommend this John Keim podcast, which is almost entirely an in-depth interview with Commanders holder/punter Tress Way

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NFC East links

Big Blue View

How successful are quarterbacks drafted in Round 1?

Here are the numbers since 2010, and they are not encouraging

Below, you will find a year-by-year list of quarterbacks drafted in Round 1 since 2010. There have been 49. Bill Barnwell of ESPN did a historical look of his own at quarterback hits and misses in the draft in 2024 and provided a tiered grading system for breaking down the success or failure level of each pick.

I liked it and have adopted it, with my own judgment for which category each selected quarterback falls into.

I am including quarterbacks from the 2023 and 2024 draft classes, although there isn’t a big enough body of work to make definitive judgments on those players. That adds an “incomplete” category for several quarterbacks. Consider where I have them listed the 2023 and 2024 draftees as “for now” placements.

By the way, I dropped Daniel Jones from the “solid starter” category to the “low-end pro careers” category.

2024

No. 1 — Caleb Williams (Chicago Bears)

No. 2 — Jayden Daniels (Washington Commanders)

No. 3 — Drake Maye (New England Patriots)

No. 8 — Michael Penix (Atlanta Falcons)

No. 10 — J.J. McCarthy (Minnesota Vikings)

No. 12 — Bo Nix (Denver Broncos)

• Future Hall of Famers: 0
• Franchise QBs: 1 (Daniels)
• Solid starters: 2 (Maye, Nix)
• Low-end pro careers: 0
• Disappointments: 0

Incomplete: (Williams, Penix, McCarthy … I need to see Williams in a better situation before even beginning to pass judgment)

Totals

• Future Hall of Famers: 3
• Franchise QBs: 9
• Solid starters: 7
• Low-end pro careers: 7
• Disappointments: 18
• Incomplete: 5

That’s 19 out of 49 drafted quarterbacks currently in the ‘solid starter’ or above category, a hit rate of 38.8%. If you are looking for Hall of Fame or absolute franchise quarterback as your standard, that’s 12 of 49, or 24.5%. Take out the five incompletes, those percentages are 44.1 and 27.2.

The disappointments category has 18 names or 36.7%. Combine that with the seven quarterbacks in the ‘low-end’ category and that is 51% who did not or have not yet given teams what they hoped to get out of a first-round quarterback.

This means the historical expectation would be that if three quarterbacks are taken in Round 1, only one will have a career justifying the draft capital used on them. Two if teams are lucky.

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NFL league links

Articles

NFL.com

Bears, Patriots, Jets open voluntary offseason programs today

Day 1 of the voluntary offseason program kicks off Monday for the Chicago Bears, New England Patriots and New York Jets.

Teams with new head coaches get an early start on their offseason programs to immerse players in the systems and get to know their new staff. In 2025, there are seven clubs with new head coaches.

The Jacksonville Jaguars and Las Vegas Raiders begin their offseason program tomorrow, April 8. The Dallas Cowboys and New Orleans Saints will wait a week, kicking off on April 14.

The rest of the league is eligible to begin their program on April 21.

Activities during this phase are limited to meetings, strength and conditioning, and physical rehabilitation only.

Repetition for effect: This phase is voluntary.

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NFL.com

Raiders releasing CB Jack Jones after attempting to trade him

Jones was originally drafted by the Patriots in the fourth round of the 2022 NFL Draft but only played just over a season in New England. He showcased his talents as a ballhawk in his rookie campaign, snagging a pair of interceptions and six passes defensed, but on- and off-the-field behavior, including an arrest in June of 2023, culminated in the Patriots waiving him five games into his sophomore season.

He was picked up by the Raiders, then led by at-the-time interim head coach Antonio Pierce, who was also Jones’ high school HC at Long Beach Poly. In 19 starts over one-plus seasons in Las Vegas, Jones accumulated five interceptions, three returned for touchdowns, as well as 20 passes defensed and 94 tackles.

But with the regime change in Las Vegas and Pete Carroll coming in as coach after Pierce’s firing, Jones is evidently no longer in the Raiders’ plan. He will now enter free agency looking for a CB-needy team with whom he can start his next chapter.

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Discussion topics

ESPN

2025 NFL draft edge rusher projections: Rankings, comps

3. Mike Green, Marshall

• SackSEER projection: 23.9 sacks through five NFL seasons
• Scouts Inc. ranking: 21
• Similar historical prospects: Damontre Moore, Aidan Hutchinson

Green started out at Virginia and then transferred to Marshall, where he led the FBS with 17 sacks and 23 tackles for loss last season. He has both speed and power moves, plus he’s another former off-ball linebacker, so teams can occasionally drop him into coverage. At his pro day, Green chose to run the three-cone drill and shuttle but did no other workouts, which was very unusual. Perhaps Green knew to focus on what he did best because his three-cone time of 6.85 seconds was the fastest in this year’s edge rusher class and among the top times for all edge rushers in SackSEER’s database. For other workouts, we had to use projections based on weight.

It is difficult to predict the future success of college players. That’s why the two most similar prospects to Green are Moore, who finished his NFL career with 11 sacks, and Hutchinson, who might be the best edge rusher in the game today other than Myles Garrett. Projections are hard.

4. Donovan Ezeiruaku, Boston College

• SackSEER Projection: 19.9 sacks through five NFL seasons
• Scouts Inc. ranking: 26
• Similar historical prospects: Anthony Barr, Jerry Hughes

Ezeiruaku ranked second in this class with a time of 6.94 seconds in the three-cone drill, and he was also second in the FBS with 16.5 sacks in 2024. Sports Info Solutions charting had him with 69 pressures in just 12 games last season, which led the nation as well. He’s somewhat undersized for an edge rusher (6-foot-3, 248 pounds) but has a high motor and long arms.

5. Mykel Williams, Georgia

• SackSEER projection: 19.6 sacks through five NFL seasons
• Scouts Inc. ranking: 13
• Similar historical prospects: Jerome McDougle, Shaq Lawson

Here is the first-round edge rusher most likely to bust, according to SackSEER. Williams certainly had better college production than Stewart, but 14 sacks over three years as a starter is not terribly impressive. Neither is a total of just four passes defensed. And Williams, unlike Stewart, does not have the workout numbers to counter his underwhelming collegiate production.

Williams didn’t do a vertical jump, a broad jump or a three-cone. He ran a mediocre 40 of 4.73 seconds at his pro day, but there should be an asterisk there because he has been rehabbing from an ankle injury. In fact, that injury also might explain why Williams had only 5.0 sacks as a junior because he said he struggled with it all season. So there’s bust potential here, but there’s also good reason to believe he will beat his SackSEER projection.

6. James Pearce Jr., Tennessee

• SackSEER projection: 19.3 sacks through five NFL seasons
• Scouts Inc. ranking: 27
• Similar historical prospects: Clay Matthews, David Ojabo

Pearce had the best 40 time of any edge rusher at the combine, 4.47 seconds. That gives him a strong explosion index, although his 31-inch vertical jump was not great. Pearce led the SEC with 10 sacks in 2023, but he dropped off to 7.5 sacks in 2024. He’s an explosive speed rusher who also gets high marks against the run.

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All aTwitter

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