Chiefs General Manager Brett Veach said this week that he expects a lot of trades in the first round of next week’s draft, but any dealing may not include the Commanders.
Washington has the No. 7 pick and their GM Adam Peters discussed the possibility of making a deal that would change that spot during his own press conference on Thursday. Peters said he believes there are a number of defensive players that “can help impact us in a real positive way” and that he expects to be selecting someone rather than making a trade in any direction.
“I would say more likely than not that would happen,” Peters said, via the team’s website. “You never know. It’ll depend on who’s on the board.”
One reason to make a trade down would be to add to the six picks that the Commanders currently have at their disposal, but adding a high-end player with an early pick is the one silver lining of a rough season and it sounds like that may be too tempting for Peters to pass up.
Commanders Clips
The NFL has announced the names of the current and former players that will take part in next week’s draft by announcing second-round picks.
The list includes players associated with all 32 teams, including Cardinals running back James Conner. Conner has strong ties to the Pittsburgh area after playing for the Steelers and attending Pitt, which likely made him an easy choice as the Cardinals’ representative.
Former Bears tackle Jimbo Covert, former Cowboys running back Tony Dorsett, former Chiefs defensive lineman Bill Maas, current Vikings tackle Brian O’Neill, former Jets running back Curtis Martin, and former 49ers punter Andy Lee are other Pitt alums who are set to take part.
The hometown team will be represented by four players. Former Steelers Jerome Bettis and John Stallworth will be joined by Joey Porter Sr. and Jr. next Friday.
The other players taking part and their team affiliations appear below:
Falcons: Michael Turner
Ravens: Mark Ingram
Bills: Shane Conlan
Panthers: Jake Delhomme
Bengals: Ken Anderson
Browns: Phil Dawson
Cowboys: Drew Pearson
Broncos: T.J. Ward
Lions: Calvin Johnson
Packers: John Kuhn
Texans: Billy Miller
Colts: Pat McAfee
Jaguars: Paul Posluszny
Raiders: Matt Millen
Chargers: Shawne Merriman
Rams: Tavon Austin
Dolphins: Dwight Stephenson
Patriots: Deion Branch
Saints: Marques Colston
Giants: Osi Umenyiora
Eagles: Brian Westbrook
Seahawks: Cliff Avril
Buccaneers: Ronde Barber
Titans: Jeffery Simmons
Commanders: Mark Rypien
The Commanders unveiled new uniforms that evoke the franchise’s history on Wednesday.
The team’s primary uniforms will feature burgundy and white jerseys that harken back to what the team wore while winning three Super Bowls under Joe Gibbs in the 1980s and 1990s. Both of those jerseys can be paired with gold, burgundy or white pants. The “Super Bowl era” look came back as an alternate uniform last year.
An all-black alternate look was also revealed. The new set of uniforms comes with a black helmet that features a spear running through the “W” logo of the regular helmets. The franchise had a helmet with a spear on it from 1965-1968.
“The spear is just such a great device,” team president Mark Clouse said, via John Keim of ESPN.com. “That was part [of] the heritage of the team and also can live in this ecosystem that we’ve been building around defining a Commander.”
Clouse added that the team knows some fans will be “looking for a full reversal” to uniforms of the past, but said that’s not the path the franchise will follow as they work “to bring back the celebration and integration of our heritage while continuing to move forward to build the Commander brand.”
Wide receiver Denzel Boston added a few more teams to his list of pre-draft visits this week.
Ian Rapoport of NFL Media reports that Boston visited the Commanders and Texans. His previously reported visit with the Dolphins will take place on Wednesday and will be his final trip to meet with a team ahead of next week’s draft.
Boston met with a number of other teams over the last few weeks and he is widely expected to come off the board in the first round.
Carnell Tate, Makai Lemon and Jordyn Tyson are other top wideouts in this year’s class and all of the receivers are a little more than a week away from finding out where they’ll start their NFL careers.
The Commanders had their now annual pre-draft top-30 visit at TopGolf on Tuesday.
Nicki Jhabvala of TheAthletic.com reports that Arvell Reese, David Bailey, Caleb Downs, Sonny Styles, Carnell Tate, Jeremiyah Love, Rueben Bain, Mansoor Delane and Makai Lemon were among the 20 prospects participating in the event.
It marks the third consecutive year the Commanders have brought in prospects to compete against each other at TopGolf.
They selected Jayden Daniels with the second overall pick in 2024 and offensive lineman Josh Conerly with the 29th overall pick last year.
The Commanders have the seventh overall pick next week.
Cornerback Mansoor Delane has a handful of pre-draft visits planned for the coming days.
Ian Rapoport of NFL Media reports that Delane is slated to meet with the Bengals, Ravens and Commanders before the window to visit teams closes this week. Delane also spent time with the Dolphins and Giants recently.
Delane is bidding to be the top cornerback selected this year. He spent the 2025 season at LSU after playing at Virginia Tech and was an All-American during his lone season in Baton Rouge. He had 45 tackles and two interceptions for the Tigers.
Avieon Terrell and Jermod McCoy are also at the top of the list of cornerback prospects this year.
Wide receiver Chris Brazzell is wrapping up the pre-draft visit window with a busy week.
Ian Rapoport of NFL Media reports that Brazzell is set to visit with the Packers, Commanders and 49ers ahead of next week’s draft. Brazzell also spent time with the Panthers, Colts and Cardinals last week.
Brazzell spent two years at Tulane before wrapping up his time in college with two seasons at Tennessee. He had 74 catches over his first three seasons and then posted 62 catches for 1,017 yards and nine touchdowns with the Volunteers last season.
That production has put him in play as an early-round pick and he’ll find out just where he’ll be starting his NFL career in a little over a week.
A report in February indicated that tight end Zach Ertz wants to play in 2026 and Ertz has confirmed that his plan is to return for a 14th NFL season.
Ertz tore his ACL while playing for the Commanders in the 13th game of his 13th season, so there was good reason to wonder if he’s played his final NFL snap. The free agent is rehabbing with an eye on being able to get on the field in training camp because he doesn’t want the injury to be the final chapter of his playing career.
“I don’t want it to be the last play that I have,” Ertz said, via Jeff McLane of the Philadelphia Inquirer. “Even talking to people now, and they do it out of the goodness of their heart, and [they say], ‘Man, that injury was tough.’ When people think of my career and that last play, I don’t want that to be the conversation starter. And so, for me, it’s just doing everything I can to get back to my best because I felt like I was playing really good football before I got hurt.”
Ertz will need to find a team that believes he can get back to that level of football and said he has “eyes wide open” to the realities of needing to prove he is both healthy and productive. Given his history on both fronts, it seems like a good bet that someone will take a chance on adding Ertz to their offense in the coming months.
The Commanders signed outside linebacker K’Lavon Chaisson to a one-year, $11 million deal this offseason. He was one of the top edge rushers on the free agent market after a breakout 2025 season.
“It’s huge, man. It’s huge,” Chaisson told Bryan Colbert, via the team’s YouTube channel. “Obviously coming off a phenomenal year, man. Didn’t get a chance to seal the deal like I wanted to, but a lot of things have been moving in the right trajectory of my career. Getting a chance to be a part of this, and continue the rebuilding phase, but honestly, I’d say put the final touches on something that has already been progressing.
“I want to continue to be that guy, to be that missing piece that can send us in the right trajectory. . . . I think it’s everything and more for my career and for this team for sure.”
Chaisson, 26, played a career-high 639 snaps, a career-high 10 starts, a career-high 7.5 sacks and a career-high 18 quarterback hits.
“You’ve got to decide to block me all four quarters, and that’s my favorite part about it,” Chaisson said. “I’m willing to take it to a fifth quarter if it has to go there. I like that part about it. I never quit; I can go all day long. The mindset and the energy that I play with, it’s now or never for me.”
Gabe Taylor was six when his brother, Sean, died at 24. Now 24, Gabe Taylor is a day away from playing his first home game as a member of the D.C. Defenders.
Via Todd Archer of ESPN, the younger brother of Washington great Sean Taylor plays defensive back for the local UFL team. Like Sean did, Gabe Taylor wears No. 21.
Gabe didn’t play football until his senior year in high school. He had 11 interceptions and six pick-sixes in his only season at Gulliver Prep in Miami, where the field is now named for Sean Taylor.
After playing college football at Rice, Gabe Taylor wasn’t drafted in 2025. He had a tryout at the Commanders’ rookie minicamp, but there were no NFL offers.
Enter the UFL.
“I’ll tell you this, if he was two inches taller, he wouldn’t be playing in our league right now, for sure,” Defenders coach Shannon Harris told Archer. “He’d definitely be playing in the NFL. But Gabe, man, the kid is very smart. You can see the football pedigree there. He’s another guy that flies around. He’s sticky in coverage. He does a great job getting his hands on the ball, lot of pass deflections.”
Last week, Gabe Taylor sealed a win over the Columbus Aviators with an interception.
“This is everything to me,” Gabe Taylor told Archer. “It’s definitely a reminder, especially with the Taylor name on the top. I can’t just half-ass everything. So it’s definitely a reminder, I have to put my best foot forward because I can mess up and people be like, ‘Oh, you suck,’ just like that. I can make everybody smile by making plays and then give it one play and it’s like, ‘Oh, this kid can’t play.’ So it’s like, this means everything. The legacy I feel like I have to carry, but it’s definitely a reminder, it’s bigger than football.”
And, frankly, this is the kind of story the UFL needs, if it hopes to become bigger than it currently is. For D.C. fans on Saturday, the home debut of Sean Taylor’s brother will make it a very big game at Audi Field.
