NFL Draft Trade Rumor: Should Commanders Move Up?

Is it worth it for the Commanders to trade up and draft Caleb Williams, or should the team accept drafting second overall?

Newly hired head coach Dan Quinn is bringing a new era of football to the Washington Commanders, which means it's time for him to get the leader of his team in this year's NFL Draft.

The bigger question is whether or not Quinn and his staff will feel the need to trade up or stay put at No. 2 and take their guy. Let's explore why they should. 

Should the Washington Commanders stay in the No. 2 spot for the NFL Draft or trade up? / Clutchpoints

Every year, there's a top dog in the draft, and this year it's Caleb Williams. The quarterback burst onto the scene as a freshman at Oklahoma and would follow his head coach, Lincoln Riley, to USC, where, although team success would allude to the pair, Williams would thrive, even winning a Heisman Trophy in his sophomore season. 

Williams has been compared to Patrick Mahomes as a prospect. Although that career trajectory is unheard of and unlikely ever to be matched, it's hard to argue that Williams isn't a better prospect than Mahomes when looking at their college days. Willaims has certainly shown flashes of what's come to be known as Mahomes' Magic.

However, Washington isn't the only team to have heard the hype. It's been reported that it would take a historic haul for the Chicago Bears to part with that top pick, as that franchise is also rumored to be interested in the Trojan signal caller, but some think that's for the best.

"At the end of the day, nobody knows how a player will adapt to the NFL...It's not worth trading up when there are other great QB prospects available," Barstool said.

Trade up? Commanders need to stay put, per @BarstoolNate: "At the end of the day, nobody knows how a player will adapt to the NFL...It's not worth trading up when there are other great QB prospects available."

— JP Finlay (@JPFinlayNBCS) February 13, 2024

This year's draft is believed to have a strong crop of quarterbacks, such as reigning Heisman winner Jayden Daniels, who has been compared to Lamar Jackson because of how elite he is as a dual-threat quarterback and the man who's been speculated by some to be better than Williams, Drake Maye. 

North Carolina's quarterback has strong supporters because of being just 21 years old, possessing a prototypical 6-5 220-pound frame, and pocket passing ability, which has been compared to Justin Herbert.

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Of course, none of these comparisons mean that the prospect will be an exact clone of each of the aforementioned Pro Bowl players, but when fans think about the future, it's hard not to focus on the potential of such young players and what they could become.

Depending on just how historic of a haul it would take to move up one spot for Willaims, perhaps it's best that the team focus on gambling on another one of the quarterbacks in this crop and build a roster that's ready to compete rather than putting all bets on one player to carry the team to success.