{"id":851214,"date":"2026-04-03T13:00:53","date_gmt":"2026-04-03T13:00:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/851214\/"},"modified":"2026-04-03T13:00:53","modified_gmt":"2026-04-03T13:00:53","slug":"breaking-down-commanders-best-case-scenario-for-no-7-overall-pick-and-how-board-needs-to-fall-in-2026-nfl-draft","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/851214\/","title":{"rendered":"Breaking down Commanders’ best-case scenario for No. 7 overall pick, and how board needs to fall in 2026 NFL Draft"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Washington Commanders will have a lot of options with their No.7 overall pick in the 2026 NFL Draft, but it all depends on who falls to them, which hopefully leaves them with a difficult decision.<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tFeb 24, 2026; Indianapolis, IN, USA; Washington Commanders general manager Adam Peters speaks at the NFL Scouting Combine at the Indiana Convention Center.
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\u00a9 Kirby Lee-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

The NFL Draft is now less than three weeks away, and the anticipation is building on what the Washington Commanders will do with the No. 7 overall pick<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Of course, a lot of it will depend on how the first six picks fall, and they need to hope for the best-case scenario to play out, but what exactly is that? Here\u2019s a look at how the first round needs to start for the Commanders, so they can truly pick exactly who they want and be in the best position to do so.<\/p>\n

Pick 1: Las Vegas Raiders: Fernando Mendoza, QB, Indiana<\/p>\n

This is the most obvious pick in the NFL Draft, and the recent addition of QB Kirk Cousins won\u2019t change a thing for the Las Vegas Raiders. Fernando Mendoza will be the pick, which is perfect for the Commanders.<\/p>\n

Pick 2: New York Jets: Arvell Reese, EDGE, Ohio State<\/p>\n

The New York Jets have two first-round picks to work with, and the first one needs to be a playmaker. Arvell Reese from Ohio State has been the top pick for a while, and I don\u2019t see that changing either.<\/p>\n

Pick 3: Arizona Cardinals: Francis Mauigoa, OT, Miami<\/p>\n

Now here is where the board needs to fall perfectly. The Arizona Cardinals taking an offensive tackle or an EDGE is the best-case scenario, and picking Francis Mauigoa would help the Commanders a ton. Letting David Bailey and Rueben Bain fall helps the next few picks.<\/p>\n

Pick 4: Tennessee Titans: David Bailey, EDGE, Texas Tech<\/p>\n

Of course, the Tennessee Titans are heavily linked to Jeremiyah Love right now, but I don\u2019t see them passing up on a pass rusher like David Bailey if Robert Saleh has anything to say about it.<\/p>\n

Pick 5: New York Giants: Trade Back!<\/p>\n

EDGE Rueben Bain Jr. is still on the board<\/a>, and the New York Giants only have two picks in the top-100. Instead of taking LB Sonny Styles at No. 5 overall, they trade back with the Kansas City Chiefs, who take Bain Jr.<\/p>\n

Pick 6: Cleveland Browns: Spencer Fano, OT, Utah<\/p>\n

The Cleveland Browns\u2019 offensive line is in shambles, with Tytus Howard and Tevin Jenkins projected to be the starters on the right side. Spencer Fano is a premier OL who was one of the best RT in the country, but can also be moved inside to RG. They need a WR as well, but addressing the OL would be perfect for the Commanders.<\/p>\n

Options for the Commanders at Pick 7:<\/p>\n

The Commanders will have their choices of RB Jeremiyah Love<\/a>, WR Carnell Tate, LB Sonny Styles, Safety Caleb Downs, and CB Mansoor Delane if this happens. It literally doesn\u2019t get much better than that.<\/p>\n

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General manager Adam Peters would have his pick of taking a luxury in Love, Styles, or Downs, or address a premium position with Tate<\/a> and Delane. Is this realistic? Not 100% of course, but don\u2019t be surprised if some of these actually happen. The NFL Draft is very unpredictable, and you never know how teams feel about certain prospects.<\/p>\n

No matter what, the Commanders will still have really good talent on the board, but these are the best-case scenarios to pull for when the NFL Draft starts.<\/p>\n

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Washington Commanders News<\/p>\n

The Washington Commanders have a critical draft ahead, and one top NFL Draft expert predicted them to make the biggest mistake by taking an unnecessary position with the No. 147 overall pick.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Washington Commanders will have a lot of options with their No.7 overall pick in the 2026 NFL…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":851215,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2069],"tags":[4955,4141,2240,427,7,7805,6,855,111,2480],"class_list":{"0":"post-851214","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-washington-commanders","8":"tag-2026-nfl-draft","9":"tag-adam-peters","10":"tag-carnell-tate","11":"tag-commanders","12":"tag-football","13":"tag-jeremiyah-love","14":"tag-nfl","15":"tag-washington","16":"tag-washington-commanders","17":"tag-washingtoncommanders"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116340905975116096","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/851214","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=851214"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/851214\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/851215"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=851214"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=851214"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=851214"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}