COMMANDERS BOLSTER O-LINE, PICK JOSH CONERLY JR. IN FIRST ROUND

Somewhere between the end of the 2024 season and his turn in the draft, Commanders General Manager Adam Peters made a decision.

He would spend his most valuable draft capital to protect his most valuable asset, second-year quarterback Jayden Daniels.

To that end, he used the 29th pick in the 2025 NFL Draft to select Oregon offensive tackle Josh Conerly Jr.

“I mean, I think it’s every move we make, we’re trying to maximize him (Daniels) and really the whole team,” Peters said in a late-night press conference. He was the highest player on our board, which is really what it ended up being. It wasn’t really so much we needed to get an O-Lineman or anything like that, but he was clearly the highest player on our board. So, if it was a defensive player that was the highest player on our board, we would’ve done that.”

The 6’4″ junior started all 14 games for an Oregon team that went 13-0 in the regular season, winning the Big 10 Championship before losing to Ohio State in the college football playoffs.

“The coaches were all on board, not just the o-line coaches. They always want somebody that’s an o-lineman, but the coordinator, [Offensive Coordinator] Kliff Kingsbury, [Assistant Head Coach/Offensive Pass Game Coordinator] Brian Johnson, [Head Coach Dan Quinn] DQ, I mean, everybody was just really pumped to get him,” Peters said. “We were holding our breath for a while thinking he might go ahead of us. We were thrilled when he was there. It was an easy pick for us to make and we’re really, really pumped that we had another Commander in the building.”

Conerly was the first player in Oregon history to play left tackle as a freshman. He spent the last two years as the Ducks starter and was an All-American selection last season.

His selection bolsters an offensive line that has already seen a major upgrade in the singing of tackle Laremy Tunsil. Conerly is expected to challenge for the starting right tackle spot this season but his athleticism means he has the potential to play anywhere on the line.

“The only one I can say is [Laremy Tunsil] LT gonna be on at LT and then the rest of them, they’ll compete for the rest of the spots, I think. To answer your question more specifically, he can play guard and he can play tackle, so he’s played both,” Peters said. “He played a little right tackle in the Senior Bowl and that’s not totally foreign to him and he’s practiced at it. So, you know, whether it’s left guard, right guard, right tackle, I don’t think it’ll be center, although I do think he could play center if we needed him to, that’s probably what we will compete at those spots.”

The most likely scenario would have Conerly playing right tackle with Tunsil at left tackle. Second-year player Brandon Coleman would move to left guard with Andrew Wylie or Nick Allegretti. Sam Cosmi, currently rehabbing a torn ACL is expected to be back to play right guard by the second half of the season.

In addition to his measurables, Conerly impressed the Commanders front office with his performance against top-level college talent. In particular, Peters highlighted Conerly’s performance against Penn State edge rusher Abdul Carter. Carter was taken third overall by the New York Giants.

“He did really well and he did really well against a lot of really good players,” Peters said. “He played Ohio State twice and they were getting the brake beat off in the second game and he was still competing to the very last second and that showed a lot. So, those types of things you see in them. We have metrics where, our R&D department does a great job of giving us metrics. How do they perform against high draftable players? And so, he performed really high against high draftable players and that lined up with what our eyes saw.”