Commanders — 2026 Draft Recap

Welcome to Muffed, your Washington Commanders 2026 draft recap. Six picks, one headliner who defines the whole class: Ohio State linebacker Sonny Styles at pick seven. After that, it's a Day 3 grab bag — a receiver in the third, an edge in the fifth, a back and a lineman in the sixth, a quarterback in the seventh. The theme: defense first, athletic upside everywhere else. Lance Newmark said the quiet part out loud — they wanted to be 'free to go after athletic, fast players wherever they might be.' The board reflects it.

Start where they started. Washington's 2025 run defense gave up 2,425 rushing yards and a plus 35.64 expected points added — the run game was actively scoring on this defense, snap after snap. The answer at pick seven: Sonny Styles, a 21-year-old off-ball linebacker with a Relative Athletic Score of 9.99. Quick definition — Relative Athletic Score is a zero-to-ten grade benchmarking combine and pro-day testing against every player at the position back to 1987. A 9.99 isn't top decile. It isn't top one percent. It is functionally the most athletic linebacker ever tested. The tape backs it: 83 tackles, 46 solo, six and a half for loss, three pass breakups. Only one sack, so he's not a blitz-artist — but as a sideline-to-sideline run-and-hit defender dropped into a run unit that bled yards, the fit is exactly what you want in the top ten. You take the outlier and build around him.

Washington's passing offense averaged 195.8 yards a game with 19 touchdowns against 21 turnovers in 2025 — middle-of-the-pack volume, below-the-line efficiency. The third-round answer at pick 71 is Clemson's Antonio Williams, a swiss-army-knife receiver: 55 catches for 604 yards and four scores, 13 carries for 78 and a touchdown, plus a 75-yard touchdown pass on his only attempt. His predicted points added — the college version of expected points added — was plus 0.45 per play, plus 37.21 total in the ACC. Genuine production. Pair it with a Relative Athletic Score of 8.55, top 15 percent of receivers ever tested, and you've got a player who can win on more than one route tree. Late in the seventh at 223, they added Rutgers quarterback Athan Kaliakmanis — 3,124 yards and 20 touchdowns against just seven picks, fifth in the Big Ten in passing yards. With Jayden Daniels, Marcus Mariota, and Sam Hartman already in the room, Newmark said Kaliakmanis 'just made sense' as a developmental arm. That's exactly what a seventh-round pick should look like.

The ground game was one of the few things working in 2025 — plus 9.11 expected points added, 20 rushing touchdowns — so pick 187 didn't have to save anyone. Enter Penn State's Kaytron Allen: 1,303 yards and 15 touchdowns, both second in the Big Ten and top 25 nationally, with predicted points added of plus 0.20 per carry and plus 45.23 total. That's Day 2 production at a Day 3 price. He just has to compete.

One offensive line pick: Michigan State's Matt Gulbin at 209. Relative Athletic Score of 3.46 at center, bottom third ever tested. Developmental interior depth, full stop.

The Commanders forced just nine takeaways in all of 2025 — barely one every other week. The fifth-round bet on that problem is Tennessee edge Joshua Josephs at 147. The college numbers are modest — 33 tackles, five for loss, two sacks — but he tested at a Relative Athletic Score of 8.56, top 15 percent of defensive ends, and Newmark spent more time on him than almost anyone. The pitch was the arm length: 'when someone has that kind of upper body range and length that it does tend to create turnovers.' Length-and-athleticism bet aimed directly at the takeaway hole.

Pick of the draft is Styles, and it isn't close. You can argue Williams on value at 71, or Allen as the steal at 187 — but a Relative Athletic Score of 9.99 doesn't have peers. It's the ceiling of the scale. Marry that to a top-ten pick spent on the unit that hemorrhaged the most expected points in 2025, and you've got alignment between the biggest hole on the roster and the biggest swing on the board. Day 3 hits would be nice. Styles becoming a cornerstone is what makes this class.

Going into 2026, the question is whether one linebacker — even a historically athletic one — can drag a run defense that allowed plus 35.64 expected points added back to respectability, and whether a secondary Newmark acknowledged didn't get touched holds up against the 33 passing touchdowns it surrendered last year. Newmark says he feels good about those rooms. The schedule will tell us if that confidence is earned. Small class. One massive swing at the top. If Styles is what the testing says he is, the Commanders smashed pick seven and the rest is gravy.