Commanders Acknowledge CB Need

The Commanders did not add a CB in last month’s draft. Afterwards, Newmark said, “[i]t wasn’t that it was not considered. It was that, when we were picking, a player in those rooms (safety and cornerback) just didn’t make sense as the best decision at that point.”

As Jhabvala observes, LSU’s Mansoor Delane represented Washington’s best chance to acquire a starting-caliber corner in the draft, but the Chiefs took him off the board with the No. 6 pick, one spot ahead of the Commanders. Though Washington was viewed as a team willing to consider a trade down, there were no other CB prospects who merited a pick even in the middle of the first round, and the opportunity to select linebacker Sonny Styles at No. 7 was too good to pass up in favor of safety Caleb Downs, regardless of whether the Commanders could have traded back and still landed the talented DB.

After selecting Styles, Washington did not pick again until the third round, at which point Jhabvala says there were no CBs viewed as immediate upgrades over Robertson or incumbent Mike Sainristil. However, a depth chart topped by Sainristil (who was Pro Football Focus’s 95th-ranked corner out of 112 qualifiers last year), Robertson (106th), and 2025 second-rounder Trey Amos (80th) leaves much to be desired. Witherspoon, 30, did not see enough snaps to qualify for PFF’s 2025 season rankings, but his overall grade of 54.0 positioned him between Sainristil and Amos.

The problem, of course, is that premium corners are simply not available on the FA market at this time of year. Rasul Douglas quietly turned in a nice season for the Dolphins in 2025 and could be had for a modest price, and bounce-back candidates like L’Jarius Sneed and Trevon Diggs perhaps offer some level of intrigue (although there has been no publicly-reported interest in any of those three players this offseason aside from Packers GM Brian Gutekunst leaving the door open to a Diggs re-up). Tre’Davious White is another possible option after a decent showing with the Bills last year.

In theory, the Commanders could pursue a trade, but the failure of the Marshon Lattimore swap could make them gun-shy. Still, it would not be surprising to see the club add to the depth chart at some point in the near future.