With the 50th pick in the NFL draft, the Washington Commanders selected cornerback Mike Sainristil. Sainristil had 44 tackles, six interceptions, one sack and four tackles for loss in 2024. Sainristil was also a captain on Michigan’s 2024 national championship team.
I graded Sainristil as the second-best Michigan player available for the draft, after J.J. McCarthy and barely ahead of Junior Colson. Sainristil is one of the smartest defensive backs available and does a terrific job of taking what he sees in the film room and applying it to the field on game day. It’s tough to see a world where Sainristil isn’t a consistent player in Washington’s secondary.
“Mikey” projects as a slot cornerback, which is the same role he had at Michigan. At 5-foot-9, he’s undersized to play on the boundary, but his height doesn’t affect his performance much inside. He is tenacious when tackling but still understands how to wrap, takes mostly good angles and can bring down bigger targets despite his size. Michigan used him as a blitz piece with success, so he will threaten offenses in the pass game as a sack threat. He is versatile in zone coverage and can drop into either man or zone without much of a hitch. Flexibility is crucial for slot cornerbacks, and Sainristil is a very scheme-flexible player. He allows teams to disguise coverages and run creative looks on the back end.
Obviously, the Commanders are not expected to contend in the near future. Washington has had a couple of rough years but is in the process of building an elite draft class. They took their quarterback of the future second overall (Jayden Daniels) and landed three likely starters in the second round. Sainristil was there for Michigan’s culture change and understands how to be a part of a transitioning program. This was a terrific pick for the Commanders.