{"id":856378,"date":"2026-04-06T05:12:26","date_gmt":"2026-04-06T05:12:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/856378\/"},"modified":"2026-04-06T05:12:26","modified_gmt":"2026-04-06T05:12:26","slug":"washington-commanders-recently-met-with-wyoming-g-caden-barnett","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/856378\/","title":{"rendered":"Washington Commanders recently met with Wyoming G Caden Barnett"},"content":{"rendered":"

April 5, 2026, 11:20 p.m. ET<\/p>\n

Washington Commanders<\/a> general manager Adam Peters has a type. If you look at the trend from when he was first named Washington’s GM in 2024, Peters often targets players with high-level athleticism. Don’t let his free-agency spending over the first two years fool you. That was about building depth on a depleted roster. When Peters said in January that his offseason mission was to get “younger and faster,” he meant it.<\/p>\n

In free agency, Peters focused on players coming off their rookie contracts. Those players were versatile and athletic. When focusing on athleticism, Peters is a big fan of the Relative Athletic Score (RAS) metric. The RAS was created by Kent Lee Platte. It’s a metric that measures a prospect’s athletic profile relative to their position based on testing measurements.<\/p>\n

Several of the players Washington has shown interest in ahead of the 2026 NFL Draft have higher RAS scores. You can add another to that list. Per Justin Melo of Sports Illustrated, the Commanders recently met with<\/a> Wyoming guard Caden Barnett at his pro day. The 6-foot-3, 316-pound Barnett put on a show at his pro day, running the 40-yard dash in 5.05 seconds at 316 points, recording a 31″ vertical leap, a 4.63-second shuttle and a 7.65-second time in the 3-cone drill.<\/p>\n

A three-year starter for the Cowboys<\/a>, Barnett is projected to be a Day 3 pick. Washington has four picks on Day 3.<\/p>\n

The Commanders<\/a> have both guard spots filled, with Sam Cosmi at right guard and Chris Paul expected to battle Brandon Coleman at left guard. But you always look for younger depth. However, Barnett has positional flexibility. Could Peters view him as an option at center to compete with Nick Allegretti?<\/p>\n

Expert NFL picks: Exclusive betting insights only at USA TODAY.<\/a><\/p>\n

Here’s what Barnett told Melo about his NFL position.<\/p>\n

“I definitely think I\u2019m an interior player,” he said. “Whether that\u2019s at guard or center, I have the versatility needed to play all three. I\u2019m very versatile that way. If I need to bail us out of a jam, I believe I can play tackle in a pinch, if needed.”<\/p>\n

When asked if he would describe himself as powerful in a phone booth or athletic in space, Barnett gave this terrific answer.<\/p>\n

“Oh, powerful in a phone booth,” he told Melo. “Without question. I like to punch somebody in the mouth right off the ball. That\u2019s how I play the game. That\u2019s my style of play. I always say I was meant to play football in the 1980s or 1990s. That\u2019s the era of football where you could really let it loose (laughs). That\u2019s what I\u2019m meant to do.”<\/p>\n

That should be music to the ears of Peters and head coach Dan Quinn.<\/p>\n

So, about that RAS score.<\/p>\n

Finally, perhaps the best part about Barnett is his nickname \u2014 Vanilla Gorilla.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"April 5, 2026, 11:20 p.m. ET Washington Commanders general manager Adam Peters has a type. If you look…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":856379,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2069],"tags":[95878,427,7,6,95993,95994,97116,95882,100836,95896,95888,96683,96200,95906,96005,95883,96006,114362,95881,855,111,2480],"class_list":{"0":"post-856378","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-washington-commanders","8":"tag-accessfree","9":"tag-commanders","10":"tag-football","11":"tag-nfl","12":"tag-sstssportsnflcommanders","13":"tag-sstsncommanders","14":"tag-tag2026-nfl-draft","15":"tag-tagamerican-football","16":"tag-tagbasketball","17":"tag-tagnational-sports","18":"tag-tagnfl","19":"tag-tagnfl-draft","20":"tag-tagnick-allegretti","21":"tag-tagoverall-positive","22":"tag-tagsam-cosmi","23":"tag-tagsports-news","24":"tag-tagwashington-commanders","25":"tag-tagwyoming-cowboys-football","26":"tag-typestory","27":"tag-washington","28":"tag-washington-commanders","29":"tag-washingtoncommanders"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116356051482587594","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/856378","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=856378"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/856378\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/856379"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=856378"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=856378"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=856378"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}