Before the final day of April’s NFL draft, Washington Commanders GM Adam Peters called a morning meeting. It had been an intense three months since his hiring, as he started to rebuild the organization while also preparing for the draft, and now Peters wanted to gather his staff. Executives, scouts and coaches huddled in the draft room, away from the cameras, for what they called the “Commanders Caucus.”

The idea — which Peters brought with him from San Francisco, where it was called “Table Talk” — was to give everyone involved a chance to advocate for any lesser-known prospects they thought the organization should either draft or compete to sign as priority free agents.

By the end of the caucus, the room had a clear favorite: Temple linebacker Jordan Magee.

Early in the draft process, “there were a lot of people that didn’t know a lot about him,” assistant GM Lance Newmark said. But then Northeast college scout Ron Rose gave a presentation on the athletic, two-time captain who had shined even as the Owls struggled.

“When we met on [Magee], his film and the conversation opened a lot of people’s eyes,” Newmark said. “He really kind of burst on the scene for us.”

During the caucus, Newmark recalled, at least one person from every department stumped for Magee. The Commanders didn’t have a fourth-round pick, so they sweated for a couple hours, but early in the fifth, at No. 139, Washington was on the clock and he was still there. Peters asked Rose to pull Magee’s name off the board.

“It was the ultimate organizational pick,” Newmark said, and he considered it a symbol of the most “open, collaborative process” he had been around in nearly three decades in the NFL.

Newmark discussed each of Washington’s draft choices in-depth during a recent interview. He praised the devotion of the personnel department, including the two national college scouts, six regional college scouts and the representative from the BLESTO scouting service, which studies underclassmen.

The information in this story, unless otherwise noted, comes from that interview and from behind-the-scenes video published by the team. A star (*) signifies the prospect received the “Commander” tag, explained below.

Round 1 (2): Jayden Daniels*

College scout: Pete Picerelli

In February, Peters and Quinn convened in the GM’s office to watch quarterback film. They turned on the first game of Daniels’s senior year, when No. 5 LSU lost to No. 8 Florida State, 45-24, and Daniels didn’t have his most impressive stat line — he completed 22 of 37 passes for 346 yards, one touchdown and one interception and ran 15 times for 64 yards.

But on tape, Daniels was poised and explosive. He made high-level NFL throws and battled to keep his team in the game. His receiver fell down on the interception, and Daniels made the tackle to prevent a pick-six. He competed hard until the very end.

Peters and Quinn were enamored.

“Everything pointed to him kind of all the way through the process,” Newmark said. “But we had to do our due diligence on everybody, and I thought we were exhaustive in doing that.”

In late March, a group of key decision-makers — Peters, Newmark, Coach Dan Quinn and offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury — went to watch quarterback pro days at Southern California, Michigan, LSU and North Carolina.

Newmark said they asked tons of questions to many people around the QBs: How does he handle pressure? How does he handle obligations of being the guy? How does his team feel about him? How does he work? What’s his commitment? What’s he like year-round?

“We just kept getting the answers we wanted to get,” Newmark added.

Newmark described the travels as good bonding; one fond memory was flying out of Baton Rouge in “terrifying” turbulence.

On its draft board, Washington ranked Daniels and Michigan’s J.J. McCarthy ahead of North Carolina’s Drake Maye and others. The team also gave Daniels a “Commander” tag, a label used to identify prospects with desired characteristics.

When asked to explain the tag, Newmark was coy, calling it “a trade-secret-type thing.” He said there was no set list of criteria and that the organization held open-forum discussions with the coaching staff and personnel department to determine whether a player should get the exclusive designation (out of hundreds of prospects, only 20 received it).

The process was reminiscent of how, in 2017, the San Francisco 49ers’ new regime started its rebuild by crafting a vision statement. The franchise’s brain trust — which, at the time, included Peters and Commanders’ senior personnel executive/adviser to the GM Martin Mayhew — listed desired traits for new players under the categories of “49er Talent” and “49er Spirit.”

In Washington, the tag seems to have a talent threshold — all four picks who received it were chosen in the first two rounds — and three of them were team captains in college. But, Newmark said, “you don’t have to be a captain to get a Commander tag.”

“In the end, you just kind of know that they’re our kind of guy,” he added.

Round 2 (36): DL Johnny Newton, Illinois*

College scout: Roger Terry

In the team’s video, the Commanders’ board (or at least the top of it) takes up an entire wall with prospects divided into 10 groups, the grade of 7.5 at the top and 5.0 at the bottom. By this pick, the video showed Newton with the highest grade of any remaining player on the board.

While the Commanders had other needs — the team unsuccessfully attempted to trade back into the first round for an offensive tackle — they loved Newton too much to pass over him.

“Obviously, [defensive tackle] is a strength of our team,” Newmark said. “But [Newton] just makes us even better. … I always go back to: This guy can impact the game on all three downs. He’s not a run stuffer; he’s not a situational pass rusher. This guy can be on the field and impact the game in any situation. So, those guys don’t usually hang around in the mid-30s — especially when [they have] this kind of football mind-set and attitude and leadership and competitiveness and all that.”

One reason Newton may have fallen is his medical report. He had surgery in January to repair a partial fracture in his left foot, which forced him to miss most of the pre-draft process, and after the draft Newton discovered he needed surgery on his right foot as well. He has not yet suited up for Washington, and Quinn said he isn’t sure if Newton will be ready for the start of training camp.

Newmark declined to comment on what the team knew about Newton’s injury when it drafted him.

Round 2 (50): CB Mike Sainristil, Michigan*

College scout: Chuck Cook

After tense negotiations, Peters traded three picks — 40, 78 and 152 — to the Philadelphia Eagles for 50, 53 and 161. Most draft trade charts considered the deal a minor win for the Commanders.

The most difficult part of the deal was the late-round pick swap. Peters didn’t want to lose a pick, and when Eagles GM Howie Roseman insisted on sending 210 instead of 161, Peters held firm and secured the higher pick.

“You’re a pain in the a--,” he told Roseman with a laugh.

After the Eagles used the first pick they acquired on Iowa cornerback Cooper DeJean, the Commanders grabbed a corner they fell in love with in Ann Arbor. The team liked Sainristil’s tape — the receiver-turned-fiery-nickelback had the ball skills and competitiveness coveted by this defensive staff — but he further impressed at Michigan’s pro day.

Sainristil excelled on the field and at a small group dinner for Commanders executives and Wolverines prospects at Ruth’s Chris Steak House. Newmark remembered “very easy conversation” and an “instant connection” with the “very genuine” 23-year-old.

Moments before the pick, a Cincinnati Bengals executive told Peters they were going to draft “Michigan” — without specifying he meant defensive tackle Kris Jenkins. Peters then pranked Quinn, who, when he realized the joke, pounded the table in excitement.

“When I left Michigan, I was like, ‘I really want to coach this guy,’” Quinn told principal owner Josh Harris.

Round 2 (53): TE Ben Sinnott, Kansas State*

College scout: Terry

During pre-draft meetings, Newmark said, many executives saw in Sinnott reminders of players they had been with in the past. For Peters, it was all-pro 49ers fullback Kyle Juszczyk and all-pro 49ers tight end George Kittle, versatile chess pieces who could make plays and clean up messes. Sinnott was tough, smart and lined up everywhere, too — in-line, slot, backfield and wide.

Just before the pick, Harris asked: “Will he play with Zach [Ertz] on the team?”

“Oh, yeah,” Peters said. “He can play anywhere. He’s fast, and he’s got a ton of upside. … He’s just scratching the surface. He’s got a chance to be really, really good.”

In the room, Peters pointed out the team had used all of its first four picks on players with the Commander tag.

“I mean, we’re getting all these guys,” Harris said. “It’s a good culture builder.”

“That’s exactly what it is,” Peters replied. “And they’re not just, like, good culture guys. They’re freaking good-ass players.”

3 (67): OT Brandon Coleman, TCU

College scout: Picerelli

Newmark declined to comment on why, with its earlier picks, the team chose Sainristil and Sinnott over an offensive lineman. In those spots, available tackle prospects included Houston’s Patrick Paul, Notre Dame’s Blake Fisher and BYU’s Kingsley Suamataia.

But the Commanders finally addressed the offensive line with Coleman, “one of the first players I remember talking to Adam about after taking this job,” Newmark said. It was mid-February, before he had even moved from Detroit to Virginia, and they were discussing prospects to focus on at the NFL scouting combine when Newmark mentioned the three-year starter at TCU who had split his time between tackle and guard.

“When you start to think about the draft, there are certain guys you feel like might be a really good value,” Newmark said. “It felt like he had a chance to be a really good value in this whole offensive line pool. We talked about that very early in our process and did a lot of work on him along the way.”

Some experts believed Coleman would play guard in the NFL. Why did the Commanders see him as a tackle?

“[He] demonstrated the ability to play at a pretty significant level in college,” Newmark said. “He had a ton of exposure there — 1,500, 1,600 snaps against good people. Showed the ability to work both spots at the Senior Bowl. … I don’t know that — we’ll see what the future holds, you know? But he showed us enough to believe that we thought he had a chance to do it.”

3 (100): WR Luke McCaffrey, Rice

College scout: Picerelli

McCaffrey caught Washington’s attention at the Senior Bowl. The former quarterback had only played receiver for two years and had not faced the toughest competition in Conference USA. But in Mobile, Ala., against better defensive backs, Newmark said, McCaffrey had success and showed “clear, steady improvement in his game.”

In San Francisco, Peters got to know Christian McCaffrey, Luke’s superstar brother, and on draft night, he joked, “I missed having the McCaffreys around.” Newmark said the team believes Luke will continue to ascend.

“He fits our building,” Newmark added. “Guy’s a freakin’ workaholic. He loves football. He wants to be great.”

During rookie minicamp, Daniels said, McCaffrey found out his quarterback was arriving at the facility at 5:45 a.m. and started doing the same.

5 (161): S Dominique Hampton, Washington

College scout: Paul Skansi

In late rounds, teams often look for what are known as “height/weight/speed” prospects — those with technical flaws but the frames and traits to contribute right away on special teams (and, over time, potentially grow into a larger role). Hampton — Washington’s pick after it grabbed Magee — checked all the boxes: 6-foot-2, 215 pounds, impressive athleticism and experience at safety, linebacker and corner.

“A lot of raw traits that match what we like,” Newmark said. “He was a guy that kind of rose through the process [with scouting] cross checks and meetings. Kind of steadily became more and more interesting for us, and then, all of a sudden, [he] had the real good [athletic] testing information.”

After turning in the pick, Peters turned to defensive coordinator Joe Whitt Jr. and special teams coordinator Larry Izzo.

“You guys have a lot of success with these types of guys,” he told them. “I believe in you guys.”

7 (222): EDGE Javontae Jean-Baptiste, Notre Dame

College scout: Cook

Newmark said the team liked Jean-Baptiste’s pro day. He broke out a little as a sixth-year senior, and even though he was older (24) and super light for an edge rusher (239 pounds), the team bet on his potential to ascend. The team already lists him at 260 pounds, 21 heavier than his combine weight.

“There was a little bit of a ‘something-to-prove’ vibe with him because he was at Ohio State and just never really burst on the scene,” Newmark said. “You always saw flashes of talent. Then he went to Notre Dame, and you saw more of it, and [he] got a little bit more exposure. But in the end, he was a raw, athletic pass rusher [and] the flashes were intriguing.”

By the end of the draft, the Commanders had remade their roster more radically than any other team in the NFL. Peters used the picks acquired for the pillars of yesterday — Chase Young, Montez Sweat, Sam Howell — to build the foundation of tomorrow.

While the success of the class almost certainly hinges on Daniels, what stood out most to Newmark was the collaboration.

“[It] was a really cool team-building process,” he said. “Not only are we trying to get the right players, but we’re developing chemistry and camaraderie within the building and a level of comfort between the scouts and coaches. It was a very open, honest, cool process.”