Hogs Haven
Survey results!!
Commanders fans were overwhelmingly pleased with the results of Adam Peters’ first-ever draft in Washington, with 97% of respondents in this week’s Reacts survey here on Hogs Haven declaring that the burgundy & gold were ‘winners’ in the draft.
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Only 4 fanbases polled this week were more positive about their teams’ results than Washington fans. Fans of the Chicago Bears — the only team to pick ahead of Washington in the draft — tallied 99%, while fans of the Chiefs, Rams, and Steelers weighed in at 98% each.
Inside the NFC East, Giants fans gave their front office a more lukewarm grade, with 85% voting for the ‘winners’ tag, while Cowboys fans were the 4th lowest among polled fanbases, with 73% giving the up-vote to Jerruh and Stephun Jones. The Eagles fanbase was not polled in this survey.
Which fanbase returned the most negative result? That would be the Atlanta Falcons at 49% (Jags and Browns fans were the only others to poll below 70%).
Washington’s pick at No. 36 overall, defensive tackle Johnny Newton, has probably drawn the most praise from pundits and fans in terms of value and ‘textbook’ drafting. Newton was generally seen as a first-round defensive talent who got pushed out of the initial round by the rush on quarterbacks (6) and offensive linemen (9). Overall, 23 of the 32 picks on Thursday night were on the offensive side of the ball, leaving a lot of defensive talent available as the draft resumed on Friday. So, despite the fact that Washington has two of the best interior defensive linemen in the NFL, Adam Peters grabbed Newton, whom Peters said was clearly the best player available on the team’s board at the time.
Drafting for value over need is a sound draft strategy, but it often leaves fans frustrated, and for a very understandable reason — if a roster hole goes unfilled near the top of the draft, the team has few options for filling it ahead of the season.
The Washington Commanders, as everyone knows, are weak at the offensive tackle position, with question marks on both the right and left sides. The expectation had been that at least one of those questions would have been resoundingly answered in free agency, the draft, or both.
Instead, during free agency, the only move made by Washington’s front office was to re-sign veteran swing tackle Cornelius Lucas. Most Commanders fans actually like Lucas as a swing tackle, but few see him as a strong option as a starter on either side of the line. In addition, by the end of the 2023 season, few Washington fans had any desire to see Andrew Wylie line up at right tackle again, though there was some grudging acceptance of the idea that he might be trusted to fill a role at guard. At the end of the free agency period, Wylie appeared to (still) be penciled in...
