Washington Commanders assistant general manager Lance Newmark addresses the media at the conclusion of the 2026 NFL Draft.
Opening Statement: "I want to start by thanking the personnel staff starting with our general manager, Adam Peters and our scouting staff. A lot of work goes into this process and today especially is very scout driven and very kind of departmental in terms of it's kind of a special day for the department because of so many things — we usually have the most picks on day three and we do a lot of stuff after the draft adding to our roster. So, it's kind of a culmination of a lot of work over the course of the year, and it kind of comes to an end today in terms of this draft, the finality of it, and a lot of people did a lot of great work to get us to this point. I just wanted to acknowledge that. And I was doing some reflecting over the weekend about how far we've come as a department since getting here in terms of the process, the draft room itself, and I feel like we've made a lot of really good progress. There's a lot of people to thank for that starting with our owner Josh Harris, and AP [Adam Peters] has kind of been steadfast in his belief on how things should be and how it should look. We've made a lot of great progress and I just wanted to acknowledge that and thank the people involved with that."
On weighing future roster needs to current needs when it comes to making draft selections:
"I think every pick you look at where you are roster wise, now you look at where you are roster wise in the future and you look at what your options are on the board, you know? I don't think any pick is ever just, 'oh, we really like this guy'. It's always, 'how does he fit? How does he fit in 2026? How does he fit beyond that? What else is out there?'. So, I think every pick you kind of approach it the same, whether it's the first round or the seventh round, to be honest with you. You just always look at how is, what's his path to making our team, what's his path to impacting our team? What are our options, what else? What are we turning down to take this player? So, and then you're also always looking, does it make sense to try to potentially move? So, every pick, I think you approach it very, very similar to be honest with you."
On the importance of drafting a quarterback:
"Yeah, I mean it's obviously critically important like you said, and it's unique. I think every year you look, to see if someone makes sense with where you are roster wise, you know? Obviously, you know, we are where we are with [QB] Jayden [Daniels] and with [QB] Marcus[Mariota] and with [QB] Sam [Hartman]. So, this guy [QB Athan Kaliakmanis] at this time just made sense to, we liked a lot about him and, you know, we wanted to always, you know, see if we can address that position. I think you're always looking at that, like you said, every year to, to see if somebody makes sense to and if you see developmental qualities and how that might create competition and, you know, make the people the rest of the people in the room, you know, even better. So, he just made sense on a lot of level levels for us. So, we're excited to add."
*On how the draft helped the team get younger and faster: *"Yeah, I mean, I think what we did in free agency I thought was great that we did. We got younger, we got faster, and you're always trying to create an opportunity for yourself in the draft to not be pigeonholed into doing, 'We have to do this, we have to do that.' And I think Adam did a great job of kind of setting us up to be in that situation again where we went into this draft very free to go after athletic, fast players wherever they might be. It wasn't, 'We have to do this, we have to do that.' So, I think our plan was to have that kind of flexibility and that's what we had. So, I thought it went well."
On the team's depth following the draft:
"Well, I think we addressed a lot of what we perceived as needs and we, I think we created competition and we created depth really in every room. I think we'll probably take a step back next week and look at where we are roster wise after the draft, after the undrafted free agency process and just take an assessment of where we are. Do we still feel we have voids that we can address, what's out there to potentially do that? We try to leave ourselves a little bit of flexibility to do that at the end of the draft process to, maybe there is somebody that falls through, maybe there is somebody that is still out there from the free agency process that might make sense. So, I think next week we'll do kind of an audit of exactly where we are and what we could potentially add to, to, to make our depth even better than it is now."
On if he found out anything new about some of the drafted players this year during the process:
"I can't say that I did. I feel like when we go into the draft, I feel like we really are prepared and I feel like we really know these guys and our scouts do a great job of informing us on what we're getting, not only in players, but as people. And, as we talked through these players, I felt like we had great knowledge of them and didn't really feel any surprises or any new information surfaced. I think we feel really good about all these guys."
On what stood out to him on OLB Joshua Joseph:
"I think you feel the arm length in everything he does. And that a lot of times at least in my history, I feel like when someone has that kind of upper body range and length that it does tend to create turnovers and you do feel like that impacts the ability to create turnovers, whether it be tipping passes that create interceptions, whether it be stripping the quarterback, whether it be pursuing down the line of scrimmage and knocking a ball out from the backside chase. I feel like that's a huge part of that. That one thing unlocks the next, if that makes sense. That length just seems to always factor in. Plus, he's a physical, you know, heavy handed player that when he hits people, they feel it. So, I think, the way he plays the game and that length kind of equate to creating turnovers."
On if there are specific evaluation periods after the draft or if the team is always evaluating:
"Yeah, I think, you know, every year you look back on your classes, you know. We'll look back on this class a year from now and see what we got from it versus what our expectations were. I think we still look back at our first class, you know, from 24 and assess where we feel like we got it right, feel like what could we have done better on certain picks and decisions. I think you're always doing that. There's kind of like, the industry standard is of, you know, after year three you kind of assess where everything fell, but I don't really buy that. I think you're always looking at every year you're looking back on each class and seeing how well you think you did and what maybe in retrospect you might've, you know, want to improve or change."
On if there is a part of their process where the team evaluates a players perceived shortcomings:
"Yeah, I mean, I think we are always trying to identify exactly what we think we're gonna be getting in terms of the ability level, and sometimes we'll try to get a feel for what their like self-awareness is if that makes sense. Where they feel, like how honest they are with themselves at certain times, you know, in terms of their own self scout to some degree. We always try to get a really, really focused picture of what we really believe we're gonna be getting and try to see if it matches with what they see themselves as. There are times where you scout a player and you're like, man, this guy really, you know, he's doesn't have a great feel for what he is and what his strengths are. It's like a big man in basketball shooting threes all the time, you know, there's some guys that just don't get what they're good at. So we try to identify guys that really know themselves and know exactly what they are as players and hope usually that when that matches with what we feel that we feel good about that, you know? Does that make sense?"
On the Mock Drafts and National Media saying the Commanders got great value:
"I mean, I think it's always good to hear that or to see that people outside this building think we're getting great value. I think when we make our decisions, we have that in mind, but we want to really maximize these picks and get great value for them especially this year when we were a little bit down in numbers in terms of pick volume. I think it was really important that we approached each pick with a very measured, strategic approach in terms of, 'Hey, we got to make sure that we get great value here. We got to make sure that we kind of organizational buy-in for in terms of the scouts, coaches, R&D that we're aligned and we feel good about these picks. I think you're always trying to get great value and you're always trying to pick the right player for the right situation. I feel like we've done a pretty good job with that. Every pick we try to do that."
On not addressing the cornerback or safety room:
"Well, I mean, I think we feel good about those rooms. We feel like we have good players in there. We have good competition in there and it wasn't a situation where we went into the draft to not address them. It just, the way that I think you go into the draft, like we talked about earlier, with great flexibility to do whatever's best, and it just was a situation where we were picking and what was available, those rooms just didn't make sense at that time. So, it wasn't that it was not considered, it wasn't that everything's fine. It's just, it was that when we were picking a player in those rooms, it just didn't make the sense as the best decision at that point. So, like I said, we feel good about those rooms. I think we're always wanting to have competition and always wanting to do everything we can to make our football team as good as it can be, but at those picks, those rooms just didn't click."
