When the Washington Commanders franchise -- then known as the Washington Football Team -- selected Ohio State pass rusher Chase Young with the No. 2 overall pick in the 2020 NFL Draft, it was hard to fault them.
There was a real belief that Young could be a generational talent, and pass rusher is a premium position. Ron Rivera, who has a defensive background, had just taken over as coach, and it was natural for him to want to have a standout player on his side of the ball.
Washington also still hoped that the late Dwayne Haskins -- a first-round pick out of Ohio State the year prior -- would develop into their franchise quarterback.
With the benefit of nearly four seasons of knowledge, though, it's clear the Commanders should have selected a quarterback in 2020, which has a chance to go down as an all-time NFL Draft class at the position. In a 2020 redraft on The 33rd Team, Washington instead picked Oregon quarterback Justin Herbert with the second pick.
"Given some of the disagreements inside the building about taking the quarterback [Haskins] at the time, it wouldn’t be a stretch to see them take another swing at a much better prospect the following year," The 33rd Team wrote. "Herbert would solve the future quarterback problems for Washington and play for a franchise that was only slightly more cursed than the Chargers."
Herbert is probably the most physically-gifted quarterback from the 2020 NFL Draft class, but Joe Burrow has been immensely successful with the Cincinnati Bengals, so there's no chance of a change with the top pick.
However, there's definitely a debate to be had about what quarterback should go second, particularly for a franchise like Washington that needs someone to be a culture changer. Burrow fits that bill better than anyone, but he's off the board at No. 2. However, could you make a case looking back that Jalen Hurts would have been able to step in the building and help to change a culture of dysfunction in Washington? Maybe, because his intangibles are off the charts.
Herbert is immensely talented, but is seen as more of a lead-by-example type than a rah-rah leader. You wonder if Herbert was drafted by Washington if he would have ended up putting up massive individual numbers on underperforming teams, like Matthew Stafford did for 12 years on the Detroit Lions. Heck, the Chargers are in danger of wasting Herbert's peak, and for as much as they aren't the model franchise, Daniel Snyder wasn't the owner in 2020.
Then again, Hurts was far from a finished product when he entered the league, which is why the Philadelphia Eagles were able to get him in the second round. Miami's Tua Tagovailoa -- the No. 5 overall pick in 2020 -- has formed an incredible partnership with coach Mike McDaniel, but struggled under his predecessor, Brian Flores. It's possible that any quarterback drafted by the Washington franchise in 2020 would have been doomed to fail, or at least disappoint.
From here, Herbert is the right pick in an on-paper redraft. Instead, though, Washington took Young, who won Defensive Rookie of the Year in 2020, but produced very little after that, in large part because of a torn right ACL suffered in his second season. Young was traded to the San Francisco 49ers in October, and now all the Commanders have left to show for the No. 2 overall pick in the 2020 NFL Draft is a 2024 third-round pick acquired in return for the pass rusher. Maybe they'll use it on a quarterback.
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