The Washington Commanders selected quarterback Athan Kaliakmanis with the 223rd overall pick in the 2026 NFL Draft, giving the former Rutgers and Minnesota starter a chance to compete for a place in Washington’s quarterback room. Kaliakmanis spent his final two college seasons at Rutgers after beginning his career at Minnesota.
His college line was built over 42 games and showed both volume and mobility: 658 pass attempts, 8,604 passing yards, 55 touchdown passes and 27 interceptions, plus 459 rushing yards and 10 rushing touchdowns on 296 carries. Bleacher Report’s Scouting Department described him as a game-manager-style quarterback prospect with good size but average physical tools, and said he joined Minnesota as a former four-star recruit in the 2021 class.
That profile fits a late-round pick looking for development time, but Kaliakmanis also arrives with real production behind him. He completed 56.3% of his passes and became one of 13 players to reach 3,000 passing yards for Rutgers, and one of only six to get to 5,000. He was also the first player in Rutgers program history to post back-to-back 2,500-yard passing seasons since 2007-08, a mark that underscores how much he carried the offense across his final two years.
The fit in Washington is straightforward: the selection adds depth, not an immediate answer, and the Commanders are betting that a quarterback with starting experience and a track record of steady production can develop further. The tension is in the scouting report itself. Kaliakmanis has the size and the numbers, but his completion rate and the view of him as a limited physical tools prospect explain why he lasted until the 223rd pick.
For Washington, the pick is a low-risk swing on a quarterback who has already played a long college schedule and shown he can handle a heavy workload. For Kaliakmanis, the next step is less about college milestones and more about proving that his game can translate beyond the role that got him here.