Feb. 9, 2026, 3:36 p.m. ET
The 2025 NFL playing season came to a close yesterday when the final whistle of the Super Bowl was blown. While the Seattle Seahawks are off celebrating their lopsided win, the Washington Commanders are focused on improving their roster in an effort to reach The Big Game next year.
One of the ways they’ll adjust their roster in 2026 is through the 2026 NFL Draft, and Pro Football Focus has an idea of who the Commanders should select in the first round in their first post-Super Bowl mock draft.
Washington Commanders: EDGE David Bailey, Texas Tech
The Commanders have fielded one of the NFL’s six lowest-graded defenses in each of the past three seasons. Washington addresses that by drafting Bailey, college football’s highest-graded defender this past season (93.3). He led college football in PFF pass-rush grade in each of the past two seasons at Texas Tech and Stanford.
It’s no surprise they landed on a defensive player; the Commanders’ defense was atrocious in 2025. Bailey checks the boxes the Commanders need checked. The biggest box he checks, though, is his youth. The Commanders’ defense isn’t getting any younger, and all of their current edge rushers are years deep into their careers.
Bailey’s size is perfect; he’s athletic, quick off the line, slippery, and he can put pressure on opposing quarterbacks without a problem. He isn’t going to fix the defense by himself, but drafting a guy like Bailey is certainly a good start. The only concern here is whether Bailey will actually even be available for the Commanders at No. 7 overall.
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