{"id":880405,"date":"2026-05-02T11:30:21","date_gmt":"2026-05-02T11:30:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/880405\/"},"modified":"2026-05-02T11:30:21","modified_gmt":"2026-05-02T11:30:21","slug":"commanders-nfl-draft-class-realistic-joshua-josephs-expectations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/880405\/","title":{"rendered":"Commanders NFL draft class: Realistic Joshua Josephs expectations"},"content":{"rendered":"

Editor\u2019s note: Everyone\u2019s excited about the Commanders\u2019 NFL Draft haul. Rightfully so. That doesn\u2019t mean each selection will slot into a prominent role as a rookie. We\u2019ll discuss realistic expectations for each player over the next few days, leading into Commanders rookie minicamp. In this installment, we evaluate an athletic pass rusher from the SEC:<\/p>\n

Selection: Fifth round, No. 147 overall<\/p>\n

Height\/Weight: 6-foot-3, 242 pounds<\/p>\n

What assistant GM Lance Newmark said<\/a>: \u201cHe has excellent length. You really feel his range with his upper body and his ability to affect the passer and impact the run game with how long and rangy he is with his upper body. He\u2019s a guy that we\u2019re excited about and we think there\u2019s a lot more to come there in terms of development.\u201d<\/p>\n

What Joshua Josephs said: \u201cI set standards high for myself, so I believe I\u2019ll be able to make a very dominant impact on that field and just contribute to the success of our team.<\/p>\n

\u201c…I\u2019m very ball savvy. I really understand the game and I understand concepts and I watch a lot of film. That\u2019s one of my biggest strengths. I wouldn\u2019t say that\u2019s my biggest strength, but it is definitely up there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Prominent members of the position group*: Odafe Oweh, K\u2019Lavon Chaisson, Dorance Armstrong, Deatrich Wise<\/p>\n

Perfect-world expectations: Josephs\u2019 athleticism helps him quickly adjust to the NFL, with a quality training camp that earns him snaps in the edge-rusher rotation. It\u2019s hard to imagine him taking the lion\u2019s share of snaps from Oweh or Chaisson, even in this idealistic scenario, but he could be a major contributor in the early going. He could help in run defense and as a situational pass rusher, getting after the quarterback at important times. The Commanders need someone like that, and Josephs could well earn that role as a rookie.<\/p>\n

Real-world expectations: Josephs is only 242 pounds. That\u2019s pretty light, even for a standup edge rusher. Draft analysts say he\u2019ll need to bulk up some and add strength, which doesn\u2019t often happen in a compacted offseason between the draft and training camp.<\/p>\n

While he has the talent to be a quality NFL player, some technical development is required<\/a> to help him consistently beat pass protectors. I mean, he was a Day 3 pick for a reason. That\u2019s why Josephs should have a lower bar entering his rookie season. His crazy-massive wingspan suggests he should be good at batting passes and keeping blockers off him, but he\u2019ll need a bigger pass-rush arsenal at this level.<\/p>\n

He should see steady action \u2013 special teams participation is a given \u2013 that increases as the season goes on, with 3-5 sacks as a realistic first-year bar.<\/p>\n

What are your expectations for Joshua Josephs in his rookie year? Add them and a stat line \u2013 what the heck? — in the comments below. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Editor\u2019s note: Everyone\u2019s excited about the Commanders\u2019 NFL Draft haul. Rightfully so. That doesn\u2019t mean each selection will…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":880406,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2069],"tags":[427,7,6,15,855,111,1267,2480],"class_list":["post-880405","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-washington-commanders","tag-commanders","tag-football","tag-nfl","tag-nfl-draft","tag-washington","tag-washington-commanders","tag-washington-commanders-draft","tag-washingtoncommanders"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116504757768084346","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/880405","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=880405"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/880405\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/880406"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=880405"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=880405"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=880405"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}