{"id":774099,"date":"2026-02-24T21:24:26","date_gmt":"2026-02-24T21:24:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/774099\/"},"modified":"2026-02-24T21:24:26","modified_gmt":"2026-02-24T21:24:26","slug":"mel-kipers-mock-draft-pick-would-make-nfl-history","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/774099\/","title":{"rendered":"Mel Kiper’s mock draft pick would make NFL history"},"content":{"rendered":"

While some mock drafts have the Washington Commanders targeting Rueben Bain Jr.<\/a>, others seem them going a slightly different direction<\/a>. But Mel Kiper\u2019s Ohio State mock draft pick for the Commanders would make NFL history.<\/p>\n

Kiper says the Commanders would land linebacker<\/a> Sonny Styles of the Buckeyes, according to ESPN.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis would be the fourth Ohio State player off the board \u2014 the most ever in the first seven picks for one school, per ESPN Research,\u201d Kiper wrote. \u201cStyles is getting a lot of love around the league right now, and he’s going to be fun to watch at the combine if he works out. The former safety has real speed on a 6-foot-4, 243-pound frame.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith the Commanders’ defense getting crushed for 6.0 yards per play last season (tied for third worst) and potentially losing 35-year-old free agent Bobby Wagner up the middle, this fit makes sense. But also keep an eye on Miami edge rusher Rueben Bain Jr. and the receiver class as a whole if the board falls this way.\u201d<\/p>\n

Is Mel Kiper stretching his mock to fit a narrative?<\/p>\n

Sure, Styles is a top-end talent. And yes, he will likely go high in the draft. But Styles isn\u2019t at all what the Commanders need with this pick.<\/p>\n

Kiper\u2019s assumption that Wagner won\u2019t be around is fine. There is a narrative that says he will leave. But even if he does, the Commanders still need an edge rusher. They simply have to be able to get to the quarterback better. And that has to be a priority over a guy who can control the middle of the defense.<\/p>\n

And this is why Kiper\u2019s fun Ohio State time mock draft fails. His first six picks are as follows:<\/p>\n

Fernando Mendoza, QB, Indiana
\nCaleb Downs, S, Ohio State
\nDavid Bailey, OLB, Texas Tech
\nArvell Reese, LB, Ohio State
\nSpencer Fano, OT, Utah
\nCarnell Tate, WR, Ohio State<\/p>\n

So what is the problem? Rueben Bain Jr. is still on the draft board at this point. And while it makes sense that the Commanders could opt for David Bailey, or even Caleb Downs, over Bain, it makes no sense for the Commanders to let Bain go at this point.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"While some mock drafts have the Washington Commanders targeting Rueben Bain Jr., others seem them going a slightly…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":774100,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2069],"tags":[427,7,1771,6,855,111,2480],"class_list":{"0":"post-774099","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-washington-commanders","8":"tag-commanders","9":"tag-football","10":"tag-mel-kiper-jr","11":"tag-nfl","12":"tag-washington","13":"tag-washington-commanders","14":"tag-washingtoncommanders"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116127718696386498","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/774099","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=774099"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/774099\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/774100"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=774099"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=774099"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=774099"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}