The Commanders ranked dead last when it comes to total defense in 2025 and were the fifth-worst team with respect to passing defense. While Washington added CBs Amik Robertson and Ahkello Witherspoon in free agency this yr, the team’s cornerback room still looks as if it could use a high quality addition or two. Nicki Jhabvala of The Athletic (subscription required) believes that’s the case, and he or she says assistant GM Lance Newmark has conceded as much.
The Commanders didn’t add a CB in last month’s draft. Afterwards, Newmark said, “[i]t wasn’t that it was not considered. It was that, after we were picking, a player in those rooms (safety and cornerback) just didn’t make sense as the perfect decision at that time.”
As Jhabvala observes, LSU’s Mansoor Delane represented Washington’s best likelihood to amass a starting-caliber corner within the draft, however 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 contemplate a trade down, there have been no other CB prospects who merited a pick even in the course of the primary round, and the chance to pick linebacker Sonny Styles at No. 7 was too good to pass up in favor of safety Caleb Downs, no matter whether the Commanders could have traded back and still landed the talented DB.
After choosing Styles, Washington didn’t pick again until the third round, at which point Jhabvala says there have been no CBs viewed as immediate upgrades over Robertson or incumbent Mike Sainristil. Nonetheless, a depth chart topped by Sainristil (who was Pro Football Focus’s Ninety fifth-ranked corner out of 112 qualifiers last yr), Robertson (106th), and 2025 second-rounder Trey Amos (eightieth) leaves much to be desired. Witherspoon, 30, didn’t 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 issue, in fact, is that premium corners are simply not available on the FA market right now of yr. Rasul Douglas quietly turned in a pleasant season for the Dolphins in 2025 and might 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 was no publicly-reported interest in any of those three players this offseason other than Packers GM Brian Gutekunst leaving the door open to a Diggs re-up). Tre’Davious White is one other possible option after an honest showing with the Bills last yr.
In theory, the Commanders could pursue a trade, however the failure of the Marshon Lattimore swap could make them gun-shy. Still, it might not be surprising to see the club add to the depth chart sooner or later within the near future.