The Washington Commanders desperately need a franchise quarterback and could land one in April since they have the second overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft. However, there are some in the organization who are pushing to trade up one spot to guarantee they land the best QB prospect available this year.
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Under former head coach Ron Rivera, the Commanders QB situation was messy. Alex Smith suffered a career-ending injury. They gave Carson Wentz one last chance to prove he wasn’t a draft bust (that failed), and they tried to turn former fifth-round pick Sam Howell into a franchise QB (also failed). With Dan Quinn now leading the team, the organization is hoping to hand him a young star QB in April.
The franchise has the second pick in the draft and will likely have their choice of either North Carolina’s Drake Maye or Heisman Trophy winner Jayden Daniels after the Chicago Bears are expected to take Caleb Williams with the top pick overall. However, it seems there are some in the organization who are hoping they could put themselves in a position to get the USC Trojans star.
- Caleb Williams stats (2023): 3,633 passing yards, 30 TDS, 5 INTs, 170.1 rating
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Washington Commanders contemplating trading up for Caleb Williams
According to ESPN NFL insider Dan Graziano, “There are those in the Commanders organization who are fascinated with the idea of drafting DC native Williams, even if that means trading up from No. 2 to No. 1 to get him.”
The reason Graziano brought up this bit of intelligence is the belief around the league that new Washington offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury could affect a pursuit for Williams since he served as his QB coach with USC. However, the league insider claims that won’t have any influence on potentially trading up.
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“I would expect the Commanders to look into what it would take to draft Williams, but I’d caution against thinking they hired Kingsbury based on any belief or certainty that they were going to get him,” Graziano wrote.
He also noted that there are also those in the Washington Commanders organization who believe Maye played in a system that would mesh well with Kingsbury’s approach to offense and that Daniels has a skillset that is similar to Kyler Murray and Patrick Mahomes, players the new OC has had success with in the past.
It is not a guarantee Chicago will take Williams, and they could trade out of the top pick — just like they did in 2023 — because they believe they already have their franchise QB in Justin Fields.
