Welcome to Commanders Today podcast. I'm Julie Donaldson. Today we are talking depth. Washington has found value in late round draft picks over the past few years. Safety Cam curl went two hundred and sixteenth overall in twenty twenty and Terry McLaurin went seventy sixth overall in twenty nineteen. Logan Paulson joined me to talk potential targets in the later rounds.
Let's talk a little bit about that. You already mentioned some of the names here, but what is the philosophy when you go in this and you get past that first round, Because we've been hearing a lot of talks about how this draft has a lot of good depth in it. Yeah. Absolutely, it's one of the deepest drafts I've seen a while. I think the top ends not super great, and that's why everyone's trying to get into this middle of the draft rounds two to six, two to five, And I think one of the things is
you just got to find quality starters. And in this year that's especially important because there are some quality people at different positions right like linebackers, a big need for the Washington ball team. There's some really quality linebackers later that people don't know about, Troy Anderson, Muma from Wyoming. All those guys very very talented. But they'll be there potentially in the third round. And that's well, but you
mentioned the third round. We don't have a third round pick because of the Carson Wentz trade and that's also where you got Terry McLaurin a couple of years ago. So there's some good studs that could come out there. Will they be available maybe later out of the third round or I mean Washington still could make a move
to get there somehow. That's the question. That's that's what's tough about the draft in terms of evaluation, right is everyone kind of frontloads all the resources and said these are the best guys, and then where you really got to make your money is in that kind of fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh round. And it's you know, like you said, there's all these guys that have come out of those drafts, Chrit cam Curl, all these different positions, and that's where
that talent evaluation process really comes into focus. And can they can they find those gems in the rough there? How hard is that to kind of get evaluating at those later rounds because a lot of it too is as we hear a lot of you know, the coaches say, it also depends on who is making the moves ahead of you. Yeah, so you're constantly having to adjust as well. Yeah,
one thousand percent. And the other thing is, like all these guys that are still around in the third, fourth, fifth rounds, they have some type of issue, right, you know, maybe they're not the fastest guy, they're undersized, they're oversized. There's a guy, Daniel Filey from Minnesota, six nine, four hundred pounds. How does he play in an NFL game? Right? He might slide just because he's too big. Right. There's a quarterback from a small school in Texas ran an
excellent forty yard dash line. But as a converted wide receiver, can you take that talent? Can you mold that talent? Can you develop that talent? And I think the coaching staff here is shown they can do that. Take a little bit pressure off that evaluation process. Yeah, Well, the building has been certainly busy buzzing around. And if everybody says it is, it's the time to get ready for the draft. And so evaluations are going on. They have been going on even before we got to the offseason.
They're out there looking at some of these guys seeing who could add. Are there positions you'd like to see them target when you get to later rounds or can you still take best available then? Yeah, I think you always want to kind of keep best available in mind. But as you get deeper to the draft, I think you fall in love with guys and I think you know the needs you have kind of elevate that best available, right because they can impact your team more so, I'd
like to see them target offensive line depth. Defensive line depth in recent weeks has become a bigger issue for this team. Say, always secondary depth, especially if there's some studs out there athletically that you can buy in kid from Houston, he's five eight, really really talented player, but he might be there, right can you fit him in this scheme? That type of stuff. So just kind of that philosophy that engaging with that I think is important.
Five eight my height. If I'm flat footed by the way, which I'm cheating a little bit, I have to, you know, not look too too far up on you. After looking at the late round picks, we play the little game of this or that and Now let's get to that eleventh overall pick, and I'm going to give you a couple of players to choose between. We're gonna call this game this or that. I give you two guys we're going to start on offense at eleven overall. Maybe add
a little help to Terry McLaurin out there. Couldn't be one of his guys from Ohio State as well. Would you go with Garrett Wilson or Drake London from USC? Yeah, these are two of my favorite receivers in this class, but I have to go with Garrett Wilson. He's just kind of my number one just because he's so technically sound, excellent footwork, home run hitter, love him and what he had over a thousand yards at Ohio State and twelve
touchdown as well. How about if we go to the guys that would be challenged with defending against the wide receivers. Let's go to a couple of dbs, Kyle Hamiltons or Sauce Gardner. Yeah, again, two outstanding football players. I like Kyle Hamilton's physicality, but I think Sauce Gardner has more upside. It's a mandamand corner, excellent footwork and I love the competitiveness with which he plays the game. Yeah, both of
them had three interceptions. Yeah, I like those picks. Yeah yeah, but you know, sauce Gard did give up touchdown last year, So there you go. And how about if we go to the unit in front of them, the linebackers, Devin Lloyd or Nakobe Dean isn't really that close for me. I'm a Devin Lloyd guy. I got Devin Lloyd pajamas. I'm super fired up about him. He's a physical, outstanding football player. Love watching him play. I need to see that. I don't really need to document that. How about this
burgundy are gold? Uh? Burgundy? I guess I like red burgundy. I guess I don't know. I might go gold. But then that way, we just compliment each other because we are the Burgundy and Gold. For the Latea's Commander's Draft coverage, be sure to tune into Washington Football Today weeknights five thirty and ten pm on NBC the Sports Washington And while you're at it, follow at Commanders on all of the social media platforms for the latest on the team. Thanks for listening.