Part of the excitement of the NFL Draft is anticipating when a trade might happen and how it shakes everything up, and that anticipation still exists even though we know the Washington Commanders are highly unlikely to trade out of the No. 2 overall pick.
The good news there is that Commanders general manager has eight other picks to work with from this year’s draft alone as he attacks his first selection meeting since being hired this offseason.
“I think with the optionality we have in all those picks, anything (is) in consideration,” Peters said in his pre-draft press conference when asked about the possibility of trading during the event. “We’re going to do what’s best for this organization. So if that’s moving up, if that’s moving back, we’ll do that. And lucky for us, we have the ability to do so with all the ammo we have.”
The math says Peters and Washington will absolutely be involved in an NFL Draft trade at some point during the proceedings as all six of the first-year general managers have over the past two seasons.
Those six first-year decision-makers have been involved in 23 total draft trades in the last two seasons with 13 of them resulting in that team moving back to collect more picks.
Three of those trades were between two first-year general managers making it less likely Peters executes a trade for the Commanders with the Carolina Panthers, Las Vegas Raiders, or Los Angeles Chargers.
And only two of them involved players, indicating it’s highly unlikely a player like Washington defensive tackle Jonathan Allen is moved, or San Francisco 49ers receiver Brandon Aiyuk is brought in.
Not impossible, of course, but unlikely. As unlikely as it is likely the Commanders will be dealing during the NFL Draft, with the first move potentially coming through on Thursday night.