Commanders GM content staying with No. 2 pick

John Keim, ESPN Staff WriterApr 18, 2024, 04:20 PM ET
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ASHBURN, Va. — The Washington Commanders don’t yet know which quarterback they’re going to select in next week’s NFL draft. They do, however, know when he’ll be picked: At No. 2.

Commanders general manager Adam Peters said they’re not going to move down in the first round.

“We feel great about staying at No. 2,” Peters said. “I don’t see a whole lot of scenarios where we trade down.”

The Commanders have shown interest in multiple quarterbacks throughout this process, hosting four of them on a visit Tuesday night and Wednesday: Jayden Daniels, Drake Maye, J.J. McCarthy and Michael Penix Jr.

Of that group, Daniels and Maye have been the ones most mentioned for the second pick. McCarthy also could go in the top five. Penix is not expected to go that high.

Peters said they have not yet settled on which quarterback they’ll take. He said they’ll “debrief” as a staff on their top-30 visits and discuss the players involved. They’ll also go over any lingering medical questions about any player they might draft.

“We’re real close,” Peters said about finalizing their quarterback choice. “[Coach Dan Quinn] and I will huddle up and we’ll probably have an answer sometime next week. I’ll say this also: You don’t really need to make a decision until you need to make a decision. So there’s no rush with that. But we’ll have a pretty good idea what we’re doing early next week.”

Peters understands the magnitude of getting the pick right in his first draft as Washington’s general manager.

“There is a lot of pressure and it’s great responsibility and we take this very seriously,” he said. “But that’s what we signed up for.”

The four quarterbacks were among a group of 20 prospective draft picks who visited the Commanders at the same time; the visit included an outing to Topgolf on Tuesday night. Many of Washington’s coaches also attended the event. When Peters was an assistant general manager in San Francisco, the 49ers often brought large groups in together.

“I don’t think it’s very different, personally, with quarterbacks, with all these guys. They all know each other really well,” Peters said. “What was cool is we got to see them all together in a group setting, which was really fun. It was very beneficial to see everybody in a more relaxed environment. They all got a lot of time individually with their coaches so it wasn’t like they were sitting in a room together. They all had their own individual time with everybody. It worked out really well.”

Washington assistant general manager Lance Newmark, who spent the past 26 years in the Detroit organization, said it was the first time he has experienced a large group on a top-30 visit.

“It was a really cool dynamic,” Newmark said, “seeing how guys came together, how magnetic certain individuals were vs. others.”