The Commanders hold the No. 16 pick in the NFL Draft, and could go a number of ways - with rumors, even, that they'd take a quarterback, likely Tennessee's Hendon Hooker if he's still on the board.
It’s widely assumed that the Top 3 QBs in the draft will be long gone, as Carolina and Indianapolis are almost certainly going quarterback to take Bryce Young and/or C.J. Stroud and/or Anthony Richardson, with the latter the likeliest to fall down the board if Houston passes on a QB at No. 2.
Then there’s Will Levis who, if Houston passes with either of their picks and then the next QB-needy team, Tennessee, has Richardson available, could keep sliding. If he does, and he’s there at 16, do the Commanders take him?
Brad Spielberger of Pro Football Focus has Levis to DC at 16 in his latest mock, and Grant & Danny were incredulous about this.
“There’s no chance Levis goes 16, or even falls out of the Top 10, right?” Grant asked. “They have Young 1, Anthony Richardson 4, and then C.J. Stroud 10 – so this mock to me, frankly, makes no sense. I love Brad, who is a smart guy and knows a lot about contracts, but I don’t know what he’s doing here.”
“This is Brad getting wild,” Danny replied. “The previous one he had us taking Bijan Robinson. He’s throwing some red meat out there, chumming the waters to get the sharks frenzied up.”
Related
That said, Danny knows this isn’t last year’s QB class, where there was “no way Malik Willis gets out of the first round,” yet Kenny Pickett, at 20, was the only first-rounder – so maybe this is a similar idea?
“I’m wondering if it’s one of these things where maybe Will Levis is going to go, but after you get out of the Top 10, maybe teams say the tape wasn’t very good, or the accuracy issues are a concern,” Danny asked. “Just saying hypothetically, maybe he does get into the teens. I think it’s highly unlikely though.”
“I’d say there’s a 97 percent chance that the top four quarterbacks, none of those guys are available at 16. I’m almost positive of that,” Grant said. “But, just to cover our bases, because Brad has this in a mock, we can address this once.”
And that address is this: if he’s there, take him.
“If he is available, I do think they should draft him, and that’s from someone who isn’t sold on Levis,” Grant said. “Some of the pre-Draft stuff, the selfies and his ripped abs, I just don’t love that kind of stuff from a QB – and that’s an aside from he didn’t play well last season.”
Related
Grant compared him in that way to Sam Howell, who would’ve been a first-round pick most likely in 2021, but fell in 2022 because of a poor final season in college. Levis could be the same, as he was “pretty solid” in 2021 but struggled in 2022.
And his logic for taking Levis was the same as his logic in the 2021 Draft.
“I still think he might go four to Indianapolis, by the way, but having said all that, I feel the same in this situation as I did last time Washington was in this range a couple years ago, when Mac Jones and Justin Fields fell,” Grant said. “That year, my point was it was stupid to go get one of them, but if one fell into their laps at that pick, when you don’t have a future answer, you should accept the gift. He’s got first-round tools, and I wouldn’t bet big money on him being the dude, but it’s a risk/reward thing if he keeps falling, so I would say it’s a no-brainer.”
“For me, at three I’d hesitate, because these are the guys who give me an uneasy feeling…I just need you to be more productive,” Danny replied. “He has every tool, his arm is a Howitzer, he looks like a Greek God with his shirt off, but I need better production. You can explain some of it away with Kentucky’s personnel, but I still need you to dominate.”
Danny admits he would have missed on a lot of guys who didn’t produce in their pre-Draft year but ended up as NFL stalwarts, but that’s just his weird take…and he’d still take Levis at 16.
“I need to explain down numbers, as opposed to explaining up numbers,” he said. “But at 16, if you don’t have a bona fide, you take him, no question, please and thank you.”
Follow Grant & Danny on Twitter: @granthpaulsen & @funnydanny
Keep up with 106.7 The Fan via:
Audacy App | Online Stream | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram