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Olu Fashanu

Minor NFL Transactions: 12/24/24

December 24th, 2024 at 6:13pm CST by Adam La Rose

Tuesday’s minor NFL moves, including elevations for tomorrow’s Christmas Day doubleheader:

Arizona Cardinals

Baltimore Ravens

Buffalo Bills

Carolina Panthers

Chicago Bears

Dallas Cowboys

Detroit Lions

Denver Broncos

Houston Texans

Indianapolis Colts

Jacksonville Jaguars

Kansas City Chiefs

New England Patriots

New York Giants

New York Jets

Philadelphia Eagles 

San Francisco 49ers

The Cardinals – who were eliminated from playoff contention Sunday – will close out the season without either of their starting tackles. Both Johnson and Williams are dealing with knee injuries, and they will be shut down for the remainder of the campaign. The former was a full-time starter as a rookie last year and made 14 appearances in 2024 upon switching to the blindside. Williams signed a one-year deal in free agency to handle RT duties, but two separate knee ailments will limit him to six games played this year. The 27-year-old’s free agent stock will take a hit as a result.

Wallace has made 13 appearances in 2024, his first season with the Broncos. The veteran has handled part-time defensive duties along the way, while also chipping in on special teams. As Denver returns to health at the CB spot, though, Wallace will hit the waiver wire. Should he clear, head coach Sean Payton said the Broncos would like to re-sign him via a practice squad deal (h/t Chris Tomasson of the Denver Gazette).

Fashanu exited the Jets’ Week 16 contest on crutches, and it was recently reported he would miss the rest of the season as a result. Today’s move thus comes as no surprise. Interim head coach Jeff Ulbrich said on Tuesday surgery to repair the first-round rookie’s plantar fascia would be needed, but the team has since clarified a procedure will not take place. Fashanu is expected to recover in full through rehab.

NFL Injury Updates: Fashanu, Dolphins, Beck

December 24th, 2024 at 9:48am CST by Ely Allen

The Jets will be without rookie swing tackle Olu Fashanu for the remainder of the season, per ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler. The 2024 first-round pick suffered a foot injury in Sunday’s loss to the Rams and was taken on a cart directly to the locker room, forgoing the blue medical tent. According to Ryan Dunleavy of New York Post Sports, Fashanu was seen on crutches after the game as his camp declined interviews.

Fashanu was taken with the Jets’ first overall pick last year, following a trade one spot back so that Minnesota could take Michigan quarterback J.J. McCarthy. He was the third offensive tackle taken in the draft, behind Notre Dame’s Joe Alt and Alabama’s JC Latham, both of whom have been full-time starters for the Chargers and Titans, respectively, as rookies.

Fashanu was drafted to be an offensive tackle for the future in New York after the team signed two 33-year-old veteran tackles in free agency. It didn’t take long for the future to come as injuries to the Jets’ aging bookends opened the door to playing time for Fashanu. A knee injury to Morgan Moses in Weeks 4 and 5 allowed Fashanu to make his first two starts at right tackle after playing mostly special teams in his first three games. Then, in Week 11, left tackle Tyron Smith was placed on injured reserve with a neck injury, and Fashanu has started on the blindside ever since.

The 22-year-old still has some developing to do, he ranked 61st of 79 graded offensive tackles this season, according to Pro Football Focus (subscription required), but the starting experience was good for him to get. New York doesn’t have a third left tackle listed on their depth chart, but depth right tackle Max Mitchell, a fourth-round pick from two years ago, filled in for Fashanu after the injury. Mitchell had 12 starts in 20 appearances over his first two years and will likely earn his first start of this season next week.

Here are a few other injury updates from the NFL world:

  • The Dolphins have had to get creative at long snapper this season, employing Zach Triner, Matt Overton, and Jake McQuaide at different points of the season in the absence of Blake Ferguson. Ferguson, the team’s primary long snapper since 2020, played in the first five games of the season before being placed on the reserve/non-football injury list in October. The team has released no information on what’s going on with Ferguson, and special teams coordinator Danny Crossman claimed it would be “illegal” to reveal what he’s going through, per Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald. Whatever it is, Crossman says he hopes it will put Ferguson’s mind at rest that he will not be snapping for the remainder of the season. McQuaide, signed to the practice squad eight days ago and the active roster a day later, will be filling in for the remainder of the year.
  • Additionally in Miami, head coach Mike McDaniel said that wide receiver Grant DuBose is “in good spirits” following the head injury that hospitalized him in the team’s Week 15 trip to Houston, per ESPN’s Marcel Louis-Jacques. DuBose was placed on IR two days later, but McDaniel confirmed that he would not be playing again this year.
  • This isn’t quite yet injury news for the NFL, though it will affect the subject’s stock in the 2025 NFL Draft. Georgia quarterback Carson Beck underwent successful surgery on his UCL yesterday. According to Field Yates at ESPN, he is expected to begin throwing again in the spring, which makes it sound as if he’ll miss most, if not all, pre-draft activities.

NFL Contract Notes: Henry, Barkley, Smith, Reddick, Hubbard

December 1st, 2024 at 7:25pm CST by Ely Allen

Ravens running back Derrick Henry has been enjoying a phenomenal first season in Baltimore. The team signed him to a two-year, $16MM deal that saw him receive $9MM in cash in the first year. Henry’s deal also came with five $500K incentives.

His incentives are maxed out at $2MM, so he can only cash in on four of those five incentives, per Mike Garafolo of NFL Network. So far this year, Henry has hit on three incentives: 1,200 rushing yards, 13 total touchdowns, and 15 total touchdowns.

The remaining two incentives would require him to reach 1,500 rushing yards or would require the team to win the Super Bowl. While the Ravens still have a ways to go in order to get to the big game, Henry only needs 93 yards in the team’s final four games in order to max out his incentives.

Here are a few other contract notes from around the NFL:

  • Eagles running back Saquon Barkley also is tracking down some incentives. Smartly, none of Barkley’s incentives revolve around rushing touchdowns, thanks to the infamous “tush push,” per Garafolo and Ian Rapoport. Barkley will earn $250K if he reaches 1,500 scrimmage yards (he’s 36 yards away from that total after today’s game in Baltimore) and an additional $250K if he reaches 2,000. Additionally, each incentive acts as an escalator for next year’s base salary, adding a potential $1MM to his total contract value. He also would receive $250K for a second-team All-Pro or Pro Bowl selection and $500K for a first-team All-Pro selection. That incentive would act as an escalator for next year, as well. Lastly, Barkley would earn $250K each for victories in the NFC Championship Game and the Super Bowl.
  • Jets left tackle Tyron Smith may have just been placed on injured reserve, but his health up to that point had been paying dividends. His recent injury history required him to settle for a heavily incentivized contract with only $6.5MM in base salary and $12MM in playing time incentives. By playing every snap through nine games, Smith essentially qualified for the 50% of offensive snaps threshold that earns him $2.75MM. Every additional game after that would essentially net him an additional $1MM, per ESPN’s Rich Cimini, with the final five games being worth $1.25MM per week. Unfortunately, he only fit one game in before moving to IR. He could make his way back to earn a couple more incentives, but New York may prefer to get an extended look at their tackle of the future, Olu Fashanu, instead.
  • Also in New York, pass rusher Haason Reddick still has an opportunity to earn some playing time incentives after ending his holdout, per Cimini. Through the four games (before today) Reddick has appeared in, he has played 179 of 275 defensive snaps, good for about 43 percent. If he can keep that percentage over 40, he’ll earn a $791,628 incentive bonus, but his last two games have seen him only play 37 percent of the team’s snaps, so that bonus may be in danger. Reddick could also earn a $500K bonus if he reaches eight sacks, but with only 0.5 sacks through five games with only five more remaining, that incentive feels out of reach.
  • Lastly, we saw the Panthers reward running back Chuba Hubbard with a recent four-year, $33.2MM extension. Per our friends at OvertheCap.com, the deal comes with a signing bonus of $7.71MM and only sees the first year’s base salary guaranteed.

Jets Place Tyron Smith On Injured Reserve

November 30th, 2024 at 7:53pm CST by Nikhil Mehta

The Jets placed left tackle Tyron Smith on injured reserve, per a team announcement, sidelining him for at least four games.

Smith started the Jets’ first 10 games this season before suffering a neck injury in Week 10 that held him out of New York’s Week 11 loss to the Colts.

The Jets will now turn to No. 11 overall pick Olu Fashanu to start at left tackle, potentially for the rest of the year. Smith is on a one-year, $6.5MM deal with additional incentives that New York will not have to pay if he doesn’t return to the field. Even if Smith is healthy enough to be activated from injured reserve before the end of the regular season, the Jets may prefer to save some money and stick with Fashanu at left tackle to continue his development into next year.

Smith has played 592 snaps so far this season, so he will earn at least a few of his playing-time incentives. The Jets have played 676 offensive snaps in 11 games, so they are on track for just under 1,050 snaps on the season. Even if Smith doesn’t play again this year, he should hit his 38%, 44%, 50%, and 56% benchmarks to receive a total of $3.75MM. He won’t be able to earn all of his remaining incentives – which scale up to a 98% snap share, Jets playoff wins, and a Pro Bowl selection – but a late-season return could earn him some additional playing-time money.

The Jets activated offensive lineman Xavier Newman-Johnson off injured reserve to take Smith’s place on the 53-man roster. Newman-Johnson injured his neck in Week 7 after playing 11 snaps in relief of Alijah Vera-Tucker, who left the game with an ankle injury. He will return to a backup role along the interior of the offensive line.

The Jets also elevated running back and return specialist Kene Nwangwu from the practice squad for their Week 13 matchup with the Seahawks.

OL Notes: Bears, Commanders, Coleman, Fashanu, Jets, Lamm, Dolphins, Paul, Titans

August 8th, 2024 at 11:58am CST by Sam Robinson

In Ryan Bates and Coleman Shelton, the Bears added two starter-caliber veterans along their interior O-line this offseason. They still may not be satisfied up front. Nate Davis did not live up to his three-year, $30MM contract last season, and the ex-Titans starter has missed time due to a groin injury in practice. Bates has guard experience, starting for most of the 2022 season in Buffalo (on a Bears-constructed contract to which he remains attached), and could be an option at RG as well. But the Bears should be expected to look into the trade market and closely monitor the waiver wire — as cuts come in later this month — for interior help, per ESPN.com’s Dan Graziano. Chicago is set at left guard (Teven Jenkins) and seemingly would be prepared to make the loser of the Shelton-Bates center battle an interior swingman, but Davis’ health and shaky 2023 showing looks to have generated a bit of concern — for depth purposes at the very least.

Here is the latest from O-line situations around the league:

  • Brandon Coleman is moving closer to becoming a rookie tackle starter in Washington. The Commanders are giving the third-rounder first-team left tackle reps, per NBC Sports Washington’s JP Finlay, and The Athletic’s Ben Standig adds Coleman may be the safest bet to start at tackle to open Dan Quinn‘s tenure. Quinn said both Washington tackle jobs are open, and Standig adds 2023 free agency pickup Andrew Wylie and veteran Cornelius Lucas may be vying for the RT job (subscription required). Some evaluators viewed Coleman as a better guard in the pros, but the Commanders do not share that assessment. More of a spot starter than a full-timer, Lucas has still made 31 starts during his four-year Washington run. Wylie is attached to a three-year, $24MM deal.
  • The Jets devoted their top offseason resource to insurance on their O-line, but the Olu Fashanu pick will obviously matter more in the long term. Tyron Smith and Morgan Moses are in place at tackle in New York, but Fashanu looms as a post-2024 starter at one of the positions. The Penn State product has repped exclusively at left tackle during training camp, but the New York Post’s Brian Costello notes team will give him RT reps as well. Smith’s extensive injury history points to Fashanu needing to make LT starts as a rookie; both Smith and Morgan are on expiring contracts.
  • Although the Dolphins used a second-round pick on Patrick Paul, the former Houston tackle may be more of a project than a player the team would count on to fill in for Terron Armstead if/when the talented veteran misses time. Veteran swingman Kendall Lamm remains on track to hold that role this season, per the Miami Herald’s Barry Jackson. Armstead has missed 11 games since joining the Dolphins in 2022 and has missed more than two games in seven of the past nine seasons. Miami having chosen Paul 55th overall points to the prospect being given a chance early, and a June report suggested the rookie had a good chance to unseat Lamm. Though, Lamm — re-signed before the draft at one year and $2.5MM ($1.6MM guaranteed — represents quality insurance that would have the Dolphins carrying four tackles.
  • Elsewhere on Miami’s O-line, the team still has Isaiah Wynn on its active/PUP list. While Wynn is expected to eventually regain his starting LG job, Jackson notes Liam Eichenberg, Robert Jones and Jack Driscoll are vying for the two starting guard positions. The Dolphins lost Robert Hunt in free agency but re-signed Jones and added Driscoll. A former second-round pick who has played across Miami’s O-line, Eichenberg is in a contract year.
  • Prior to Saahdiq Charles‘ surprising retirement, Brian Callahan said (via ESPN.com’s Turron Davenport) the Titans free agency pickup and Dillon Radunz had been given near-equal time at right guard. No starter had been named, but Charles’ mid-camp exit certainly gives Radunz — a converted tackle in a contract year — a good chance to be the team’s guard opposite Peter Skoronski.

Jets Sign First-Round T Olu Fashanu

May 13th, 2024 at 12:44pm CST by Adam La Rose

The Jets entered Monday without any of their 2024 draft picks having been signed. That has now changed, however, with first-round offensive tackle Olu Fashanu inking his rookie deal.

As ESPN’s Field Yates notes, this four-year pact will carry a value of $20.51MM. Like with all other Day 1 draftees, New York will have the ability to extend the contract by one more season via the fifth-year option. If the team does so, Fashanu will remain in place through the 2028 campaign.

Offensive line was a concern for the Jets entering the 2023 season, one in which Aaron Rodgers‘ debut New York campaign was cut short four plays into the season opener. After struggling with poor performance and injuries up front, adding at the tackle and guard spots was a priority this offseason. As a result, Morgan Moses was re-acquired via trade to regain his old right tackle spot.

That move was followed in short order by the signing of Tyron Smith. The former Cowboys All-Pro joined on a one-year deal, and he is in place as New York’s starter on the blindside. Both Moses and Smith are 33, however, and the former is also a pending free agent. A long-term investment at the tackle spot was thus a main concern entering the draft. While New York was high on wideout Rome Odunze, it came as little surprise when the team used the No. 11 pick (acquired in a swap with the Vikings) on Fashanu.

The Penn State product was seen as one of the top tackle prospects in the 2023 class, and it came as a surprise to many when he elected to remain in school for one more year. Nevertheless, Fashanu was squarely on the first-round radar this year despite being part of an extremely deep O-line class. The Jets also had interest in fellow tackle Troy Fautanu, but like other teams they had injury concerns which steered them elsewhere.

Fashanu does not have an immediate path to playing time as a rookie, but injuries have been a constant in Smith’s career and the usually-durable Moses missed three games last season. The 6-6, 313-pounder could therefore find himself on the field in relatively short order this year. Even if not, though, Fashanu should be a fixture up front for the team in 2025 and beyond.

AFC East Notes: Allen, Bills, Coleman, Staff, Washington, Jets, Patriots, Slater, Dolphins

May 12th, 2024 at 10:46am CST by Sam Robinson

Having traded Stefon Diggs weeks after letting Gabe Davis walk in free agency, the Bills are facing questions about their receiving corps. The team’s top offseason investment at the position — No. 33 overall pick Keon Coleman — encouraged Josh Allen. Bills GM Brandon Beane said during a Sirius XM Radio appearance he had Allen join coaches in watching some film of receiver prospects. Coleman was among the candidates the superstar passer preferred, expressing his approval after being informed on Day 2 of the draft the Bills would go with the Florida State wideout. Although Coleman did not produce an 800-yard receiving season with the Seminoles, the Bills look set to count on the 6-foot-4 pass catcher as they remake their receiving corps.

Here is the latest from the AFC East:

  • The Jets have moved on from one of the better-known members of their coaching staff. Leon Washington, who had been in place as assistant special teams coach in each of Robert Saleh‘s three seasons, did not see his contract renewed for the 2024 season, per the New York Post’s Brian Costello. This marked the former Jets kick returner/running back’s first full-time coaching gig, after a run of fellowships since his playing career ended after the 2014 season. A Jets contributor from 2006-09, Washington earned All-Pro honors in 2008. Earlier this offseason, the Jets lost special teams assistant Michael Ghobrial to the Giants. Dan Shamash, who helps advise Saleh in terms of game management, is now listed as an ST assistant for the team. Brant Boyer remains in place as the team’s ST coordinator.
  • Rome Odunze may well have been the Jets’ preference at No. 10, but after the Bears went with the Washington wideout at 9, the team was set on Penn State tackle Olu Fashanu. The Jets were also high on Washington tackle Troy Fautanu, according to ESPN.com’s Jeremy Fowler, but the team carried some long-term durability concerns about the Pac-12 blocker. Two other tackles — Taliese Fuaga (Saints) and Amarius Mims (Bengals) — went off the board before Fautanu, who slid to the Steelers at No. 20. Some teams flagged Fautanu’s knee as a medical concern, SI.com’s Albert Breer notes. It appears the Jets were one of them.
  • Odell Beckham Jr.‘s Dolphins contract includes a void year, which will drop his cap number by a bit. The new Miami WR3 will count $2.1MM on the team’s 2024 cap, per OverTheCap. Beckham signed a one-year, $3MM deal with the Dolphins; the team will take on a $900K dead money charge in 2025 if OBJ is not re-signed by the 2025 league year.
  • The Bills have either decided on their defensive play-caller, only to not reveal the choice publicly, or they are still in the process of determining who will call the signals come September. Sean McDermott said (via the Buffalo News’ Jay Skurski) he is delaying this decision until at least training camp. McDermott called plays last season, with the Bills having moved on from longtime defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier, but the Bills now have a DC again in Bobby Babich. The Bills have been a top-five defense in each of the past three seasons, though their units — as key injuries hit in each season — have struggled in the playoffs.
  • Matthew Slater‘s immediate transition to coaching will come in a full-time role, according to ESPN.com’s Mike Reiss. The perennial Pro Bowl special-teamer is working as a “right-hand man” to Jerod Mayo, with Reiss noting the new Patriots HC is receiving input from his former teammate regarding team-building and character development. Slater, 38, spent 16 seasons with the Patriots, coming into the league in the same 2008 draft class Mayo did.
  • Staying with that 2008 draft class, one of its members recently landed a scouting gig. The Dolphins hired Beau Bell as a pro scout, according to InsidetheLeague.com’s Neil Stratton. A 2008 fourth-round Browns draftee, Bell only played five NFL games. He will make the move to a full-time role after receiving an apprentice opportunity with the Rams and serving as GM of the Arena Football League’s Philadelphia Soul.

Jets Notes: Wilson, OL, Odunze, Hardman

May 5th, 2024 at 10:06pm CST by Rory Parks

The Jets brought an end to Zach Wilson‘s disappointing New York tenure when they traded their former No. 2 overall selection for a mere pick swap on Day 3 of last month’s draft. According to ESPN’s Rich Cimini, Wilson’s camp was, in the run-up to the 2021 draft, deeply worried about Gang Green’s history of failure to develop young quarterbacks and how that would impact Wilson’s own career, but the BYU product was convinced he would be the player to buck that trend.

Of course, that was not the case, and Wilson will now try to resurrect his career in Denver. Per Cimini, one of the lessons that the Jets learned from the Wilson experience is that, regardless of the round in which they draft a QB in the future, they will want to give that player legitimate competition for his role and, preferably, the opportunity to learn on the sidelines (benefits that were not afforded to Wilson).

GM Joe Douglas also said prior to the 2024 draft that, “I’d love to be a quarterback factory,” referencing the 1990s Packers that selected QBs in the later rounds of a draft, developed them, and flipped them for new draft capital down the road. To that end, the Jets selected Florida State passer Jordan Travis in the fifth round of the 2024 draft. Travis sustained an ankle injury in November that prematurely ended his final collegiate season, though he is expected to be healed by the start of training camp.

Travis will be learning behind newly-signed backup Tyrod Taylor and QB1 Aaron Rodgers, whose success will drive the Jets’ fortunes in 2024. Blocking for that group of passers will be rookie OT Olu Fashanu, whom New York selected with the No. 11 overall pick of the draft. As Cimini details in a separate piece, Fashanu is not expected to start right away thanks to the recent additions of Tyron Smith and Morgan Moses, but since both veterans will be on modified offseason programs, Fashanu will get plenty of reps at both left and right tackle during the spring and summer (Douglas suggested that Fashanu could even get looks on the interior, as Cimini relays).

The Jets did have the No. 10 pick in the 2024 draft, but they traded down one spot and selected Fashanu once Washington wide receiver Rome Odunze went off the board to the Bears, who held the No. 9 selection. That suggests that Odunze was New York’s preferred target, and though Douglas would not confirm as much, Cimini says that the Jets did try to trade up for the former Huskies pass catcher.

The club did eventually land a receiver when it nabbed Western Kentucky talent Malachi Corley in the third round. As Adam Caplan of Pro Football Network writes, some teams viewed Corley as a slot-only option, though the Jets plan to get him some reps outside the numbers as well. The club is clearly high on his ability, with Cimini reporting that Douglas started making calls about a possible trade-up to take Corley when the Packers were on the clock with the No. 45 selection. Ultimately, Douglas got his man with the No. 65 pick. Head coach Robert Saleh concedes that Corley will need to refine his route-running, but he is excited to find creative ways to use him (via Cimini).

Speaking of wide receivers, the Jets never levied tampering charges against the Chiefs for Kansas City’s pursuit of Mecole Hardman, as Cimini reported back in March. Hardman, a second-round pick of the Chiefs in 2019, signed with the Jets in the 2023 offseason. But after Rodgers was lost for the season four snaps into the 2023 opener, the Jets’ offense was in shambles, and Hardman later acknowledged during an appearance on Ryan Clark‘s The Pivot podcast that he begged Chiefs brass to “come get me” (via Cimini).

The Jets traded Hardman back to KC in October, and Douglas admitted that Hardman’s comments to Clark “resonated with us” (meaning, presumably, that the Jets may have considered tampering charges at some point).

Jets Draft T Olu Fashanu At No. 11

April 25th, 2024 at 8:27pm CST by Ben Levine

The Jets have made a long-term investment along the offensive line. After moving down one spot, New York has selected Penn State tackle Olu Fashanu 11th overall.

After starting the night with the 10th-overall pick, the Jets managed to move back a spot and pick up some extra selections along the way. Despite the trade back, the organization still managed to snag one of their preferred prospects.

2022 marked the first full season as a starter for Fashanu, and he put himself firmly on the first-round radar by earning All-American honors. After electing to remain in college for one more season, the 6-6, 313-pounder was again an anchor for the Nittany Lions up front, allowing just one sack in pass protection.

Despite having been in school for four years, Fashanu will be just 21 through most of his rookie campaign in the NFL. Given that, he profiles has having high upside along with an encouraging blend of size, athleticism and footwork. While he was the third lineman off the board tonight, Fashanu is still considered an elite prospect at the position.

The Jets will feature two new offensive tackles in 2024 after having added Tyron Smith and Morgan Moses. Smith, of course, has a long history with injuries, and the veteran is also approaching the end of his career. While Fashanu will surely be penciled into future Jets depth charts, there’s a chance the rookie sees playing time in 2024 as an injury fill-in.

This move comes after rumors pointed to the Jets giving Aaron Rodgers more receiving help, and while Brock Bowers remained on the board, the Jets saw the Bears nab Rome Odunze at No. 9. The team picked up some extra draft capital and opted to use another first-round pick on the O-line. This move follows the Mekhi Becton and Alijah Vera-Tucker investments during Joe Douglas‘ GM tenure. Considering the injury trouble Vera-Tucker and other Jets blockers endured over the past two years, fortifying the front with Fashanu is probably a wise decision.

Commanders Pursuing Late First-Round Trade

April 25th, 2024 at 6:29pm CST by Ben Levine

While the Commanders are set to keep the second-overall pick, the team could still be an active trade participant in tonight’s first round. According to JP Finlay of NBC4 in Washington, the Commanders have been calling teams in the bottom half of the first round.

[RELATED: Raiders Contact Commanders About No. 2 Pick; No Trade Expected]

The Commanders have the assets to move up towards the end of tonight’s portion of the draft. The team possesses a pair of early second-round picks (No. 36 and No. 40) plus a pair of third-round selections (No. 67, No. 78).

While the organization is all but certain to take a quarterback with the No. 2 pick, there are still other major needs they’d like to address. Per Finlay, if the team does pull off a trade towards the end of the first round, they’d likely be targeting an offensive lineman.

The Commanders moved on from left tackle Charles Leno Jr. and have Andrew Wylie penciled in on the other side, so the team could be seeking multiple tackles in this year’s draft. While the team likely doesn’t have the draft capital to make a trade all the way up for Joe Alt, Sam Fortier of the Washington Post suggests the Commanders could target another early-round OT who is sliding down the board. Fortier points to Oregon State’s Taliese Fuaga, Penn State’s Olu Fashanu, and Washington’s Troy Fautanu as potential targets.

“It’s pretty universally known [that] it’s a really good tackle class, deep tackle class,” GM Adam Peters previously said (via Fortier). “As you can see in a lot of the mock drafts, there’s a ton of those guys coming off in the first round. We got a chance to visit with a lot of them and really at different levels. But yeah, we’re really, really excited about that group.”

While teams have sniffed around at Washington’s second-overall pick, it was recently reported that the front office hasn’t given any indication that they’ll trade the selection. While draft pundits haven’t completely ruled out Drake Maye or J.J. McCarthy at No. 2, Jayden Daniels remains the favorite to be selected by the Commanders.

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