After Jayden Daniels and Drake Maye’s pro days, the Commanders may hold the keys to the NFL Draft

ORLANDO, Fla. — If you want confirmation on where the 2024 NFL Draft really starts, just ask New England Patriots head coach Jerod Mayo.

“I think everyone knows what Chicago is going to do at 1,” Mayo said Monday from the league’s annual meeting. “But the rest is up in the air.”

Mayo and the Patriots are, well, fairly high up in that air with the third overall pick. But before the Patriots make it to the clock, the Washington Commanders precede them at 2. And it is there, after the Bears’ presumptive pick of USC quarterback Caleb Williams, that mystery abounds.

“I don’t think anyone in here really knows what Washington’s going to do,” Mayo said. “And when you see these other teams making moves, acquiring pieces to move, we could sit here and say Washington today, [then] that could be someone else on draft day.”

So let the speculation rage on, the Vegas odds continue to rise and fall, and the evaluation work inch closer for the Commanders.

Because with four weeks until the draft kicks off, Washington — in head coach Dan Quinn’s exact words — is “not there yet.” Their decision is not finalized because their work toward executing a best-informed decision is not finalized.

“That’s actually a really fun part of this: to make sure that we don’t rush it,” Quinn said Tuesday from the league meeting in Orlando.

Trusting the process is far from new for sports teams in general and especially sports teams owned by Josh Harris. But more interesting than simply acknowledging that the Commanders want to trust the process is the exploration of what that process actually looks like.

There were several interested onlookers when North Carolina QB Drake Maye performed at UNC’s pro day on Thursday, including Washington Commanders decision makers. (AP Photo/Karl B DeBlaker)

This week could have introduced a pivot point toward the Commanders swaying to one prospect or the next. Because after Quinn and general manager Adam Peters left Orlando, they…

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