{"id":865867,"date":"2026-04-14T00:54:27","date_gmt":"2026-04-14T00:54:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/865867\/"},"modified":"2026-04-14T00:54:27","modified_gmt":"2026-04-14T00:54:27","slug":"commanders-linked-to-montgomery-county-native-in-first-round-of-mock-draft","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/865867\/","title":{"rendered":"Commanders Linked to Montgomery County Native in First Round of Mock Draft"},"content":{"rendered":"

A Montgomery County native could be headed back to the DMV in a big way. Over the last few months, Commanders.com<\/a> has been spotlighting one mock draft each week, breaking down how potential picks could fit in Washington. In the latest feature, draft analyst Matt Miller<\/a> mapped out all of the team\u2019s selections in a full seven-round mock, including a notable local connection at the top.<\/p>\n

With the No. 7 overall pick, Miller projects the Commanders selecting Mansoor Delane, a Silver Spring native who has developed into one of the top defensive prospects in the country.<\/p>\n

Delane\u2019s football journey began locally. He attended Landon School in Bethesda for middle school and the early part of his high school career before transferring to Archbishop Spalding High School in Severn ahead of his sophomore year. There, he emerged as a highly regarded recruit before continuing his career at Virginia Tech and later LSU.<\/p>\n

By his senior season at LSU, Delane had established himself as one of the nation\u2019s premier cornerbacks. He did not allow a single touchdown across 357 pass coverage snaps and was targeted on just 9.8% of those plays. His performance earned him unanimous First-Team All-American honors and a spot as a finalist for the Jim Thorpe Award, given annually to the country\u2019s top defensive back. He finished the season with 45 tackles and 13 passes defended, helping anchor one of the SEC\u2019s top pass defenses.<\/p>\n

According to Commanders.com, Delane is widely viewed as one of the best cornerbacks in the 2026 draft class and would immediately address a need in Washington\u2019s secondary. The current cornerback rotation includes Trey Amos, Amik Robertson, and Mike Sainristil, leaving room for a true lockdown presence.<\/p>\n

Despite not having elite size measurements at the NFL Combine, Delane\u2019s production speaks for itself. He allowed just six receptions in man coverage with a 28.3 passer rating against and held opposing receivers to a 43.6% catch rate over the past two seasons. He also showcased his speed with a 4.35-second 40-yard dash at his pro day.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Montgomery County native could be headed back to the DMV in a big way. Over the last…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":865868,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2069],"tags":[427,7,6,855,111,2480],"class_list":{"0":"post-865867","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-nfl","11":"tag-washington","12":"tag-washington-commanders","13":"tag-washingtoncommanders"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116400335288738993","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/865867","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=865867"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/865867\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/865868"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=865867"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=865867"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=865867"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}