{"id":818086,"date":"2026-03-18T00:12:24","date_gmt":"2026-03-18T00:12:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/818086\/"},"modified":"2026-03-18T00:12:24","modified_gmt":"2026-03-18T00:12:24","slug":"mel-kiper-gives-2-ohio-state-options-in-mock-draft","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/818086\/","title":{"rendered":"Mel Kiper gives 2 Ohio State options in mock draft"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/clutchpoints.com\/editorials\/what-will-make-or-break-the-commanders-defense-in-2026\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Washington Commanders have a lot to address<\/a> in the 2026 <a href=\"https:\/\/clutchpoints.com\/tag\/nfl-draft\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">NFL Draft<\/a> after cleaning house early in the offseason. ESPN analyst <a href=\"https:\/\/clutchpoints.com\/tag\/mel-kiper-jr\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Mel Kiper Jr<\/a>. believes they should begin by selecting one of two Ohio State products: Sonny Styles or Carnell Tate.<\/p>\n<p>Kiper likes Styles to the Commanders most, considering the team&#8217;s struggles to stop the run in 2025 and its willingness to let veteran linebacker Bobby Wagner walk in free agency. Washington added former Chiefs linebacker Leo Chenal in free agency, making Styles an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com\/nfl\/draft2026\/story\/_\/id\/48215816\/2026-nfl-mock-draft-kiper-32-picks-predictions-post-free-agency-round-1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">ideal fit between him<\/a> and Frankie Luvu, the analyst suggested.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Commanders couldn&#8217;t stop anyone last season, and linebacker Bobby Wagner appears to be headed elsewhere as a free agent,\u201d Kiper wrote. \u201cBringing in [Sonny] Styles \u2014 my No. 6 prospect regardless of position \u2014 to team up with Frankie Luvu and new addition Leo Chenal makes some sense.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Kiper likes Tate to the Commanders if not Styles, due to the receiver&#8217;s ideal fit next to leading pass-catcher Terry McLaurin. Kiper suggested Washington needs \u201cmore juice\u201d in the passing game after averaging just 184.1 passing yards per game in 2025.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI could also see Washington going with a receiver here, perhaps Carnell Tate, Styles&#8217; teammate at Ohio State,\u201d Kiper wrote. \u201cThe Commanders&#8217; offense is looking for more juice opposite top wideout Terry McLaurin.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Commanders head coach Dan Quinn has a lot riding on the 2026 season after <a href=\"https:\/\/clutchpoints.com\/nfl\/washington-commanders\/commanders-news-dan-quinn-fire-kliff-kingsbury-joe-whitt-jr-season\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">cleansing his entire coaching staff<\/a> following a dismal 5-12 season in 2025. Although only in year three, Quinn finds himself in a potential make-or-break year, putting a lot of emphasis on the upcoming NFL Draft.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Washington Commanders have a lot to address in the 2026 NFL Draft after cleaning house early in&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":315486,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2069],"tags":[2240,427,7,1771,6,15,1570,855,111,2480],"class_list":{"0":"post-818086","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-washington-commanders","8":"tag-carnell-tate","9":"tag-commanders","10":"tag-football","11":"tag-mel-kiper-jr","12":"tag-nfl","13":"tag-nfl-draft","14":"tag-ohio-state-football","15":"tag-washington","16":"tag-washington-commanders","17":"tag-washingtoncommanders"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116247288027609047","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/818086","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=818086"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/818086\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/315486"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=818086"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=818086"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=818086"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}