NFL Draft: How Valuable Are Commanders Draft Picks?

According to ESPN's analysis of how NFL teams spend their draft picks

The word 'value' gets used a lot this time of year as teams like the Washington Commanders prepare to get the most out of their draft picks. 

Adding the right rookies to the right position groups can help catapult any NFL team from the bottom of the league, right to the top. Just ask the Cincinnati Bengals. 

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The Cincinnati Bengals hit the jackpot in NFL Draft value when they selected quarterback Joe Burrow and wide receiver Ja'Marr Chase in consecutive year's first rounds. 

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Washington Commanders 2021 first-round pick Jamin Davis didn't provide a ton of value as a rookie linebacker.

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Head coach Ron Rivera will need this year's first-round pick in the NFL Draft to be more impactful if the Commanders hope to catch up to the Philadelphia Eagles and Dallas Cowboys in the NFC East.

Selecting quarterback Joe Burrow in 2020 and wide receiver Ja'Marr Chase In 2021, both in the first round, helped accelerate the Bengals' rise to AFC Champions just two seasons after earning the No. 1 pick in the NFL Draft. 

Meanwhile, Washington repeated as seven-game winners after spending their first-round picks in the same drafts on defensive players who made little impact on the 2021 season. 

It's clear which team in this comparison got more value in their picks, but which franchise has had the best return on investment in NFL Draft picks since 2012?

For that answer, we turn to ESPN's NFL Draft pick analysis and value ranking of all 32 NFL teams. 

"To evaluate the players taken in each of the past 10 NFL drafts (2012-2021), we used Approximate Value (AV) -- Pro Football Reference's method of measuring the performance of every NFL player," ESPN explains. "We took each player's career AV and measured it against a value based on where that player was taken in the NFL draft -- we're calling it Career Approximate Value Over Expected (CAVOE)."

Using this method, the Washington Commanders rank 10th in CAVOE - the Bengals ranked 27th - with quarterback Kirk Cousins earning the franchise's highest individual score at 70.3, while position and draft classmate Robert Griffin III earns the lowest at -33.1. 

Evaluating each individual class of Washington rookies since 2012, John Keim deduces the team's 2020 class is the best of the bunch. 

"This class produced quality starters in defensive end Chase Young, running back Antonio Gibson and safety Kam Curl -- all of whom are capable of high-level performance," Keim wrote. "If Young reaches his potential, he can be an All-Pro performer. There's still hope that offensive lineman Saahdiq Charles becomes a starter, but he's a decent backup if nothing else, as is end James Smith-Williams. The other part: Washington's previous drafts had way too many misses. This one did not."

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Washington Commanders defensive end, Chase Young

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Washington Commanders running back, Antonio Gibson

Washington Commanders safety, Kamren Curl

As the team's highest valued pick of all eligible candidates since 2012, Cousins also ranks as Washington's best Day 3 pick of any NFL Draft. 

The player with the highest individual CAVOE still on the roster today is 2017 6th Round draft pick, Chase Roullier. 

While Keim pins 2020's group as the best class in Washington during this stretch, the data says that distinction actually belongs to the 2012 class with a value of 51.8, followed by 2014's with the draft netting Young, Gibson, and Curl ranking third currently. 

Both the Philadelphia Eagles and Dallas Cowboys rank higher than the Washington Commanders, while the Seattle Seahawks take the top spot, and the New York Jets sit at No. 32.