The Commanders are widely expected to take a quarterback with the second overall pick of this year’s draft and the guy who will be paying that player’s salary is playing a role in evaluating their potential addition.
Adam Schefter of ESPN reports that Commanders owner Josh Harris has been sitting in on interviews with the top quarterback prospects in this class at the Scouting Combine in Indianapolis. Sam Fortier of the Washington Post notes that those quarterbacks are Caleb Williams, Jayden Daniels, Drake Maye, J.J. McCarthy, Bo Nix, and Michael Penix and that Harris has not been in any other meetings with prospects.
Given the importance of the quarterback position and the kind of investment a team would make in the right one, it’s not surprising that Harris would be involved in the process of finding out about all of the options that are available this year. Given the way things played out for the Panthers last year, it will be interesting to see how the evaluation of those prospects plays out.
After Frank Reich was fired as Carolina’s head coach 11 games into the 2023 season, Panthers owner David Tepper called the choice of Bryce Young over C.J. Stroud a “unanimous” one among the team’s scouts and coaches. That was in response to reports that Young was Tepper’s preferred choice and that others fell in line with what their boss wanted as they moved toward the draft.
The Panthers had the first overall pick, so the Commanders won’t have the same ability to choose any player that strikes their fancy. They’ll be close, though, and they’ll be hoping for better results than Carolina got a year ago.
