Trade deadline arrives with Commanders still at a crossroads

Ron Rivera has been tasked with winning now as the coach of the Washington Commanders.

But as the person with the final say on personnel matters, he’s also in charge of setting the roster to best win years into the future — seasons where he might not be in Ashburn.

Rivera faces some potentially far-reaching decisions Tuesday, as the franchise weighs whether to move star defensive ends Montez Sweat and Chase Young.

On Monday, Rivera batted down another round of questions about which way the personnel man was leaning.

“Like I said, once we get past Tuesday, we’ll probably have some answers to those questions for you,” he said.

Sweat and Young are both in the final year of their contracts, making them particularly attractive to contending teams as the NFL’s trade deadline approaches Tuesday at 4 p.m.

Entering the 38-31 loss to the Eagles, Rivera said the result would help guide the franchise’s direction forward. 

But another close, hard-fought loss to the team with the league’s best record offered little in the way of definitive answers.     

There were glimpses of excitement, again, combined with a lack of concrete results, again.

Young and Sweat have been two of the team’s most talented players, and part of a highly-touted defense that has shut down opposing rushers all season, but the duo has also failed to record the gaudy sack numbers that fans hoped for when the first-round picks were paired together.

Sweat arrived first, under coach Jay Gruden, before Young was taken with Rivera’s first draft pick.

If Washington hangs on to the players, and they depart in free agency, the Commanders could receive compensatory draft picks, but only if the Commanders don’t spend big in free agency, which is unlikely given they will enter the offseason with about $90 million in free cap space.

Another player whose name has entered the rumor mill is backup quarterback Jacoby Brissett, who is on a one-year deal to serve as Sam Howell’s backup.

With Howell making strides, it seems unlikely Brissett would play outside of Howell being injured, and several NFL teams are facing a quarterback crisis right now due to injuries.

One of those teams, the Cleveland Browns, is where Brissett played last year, though it is unclear if the Browns have any interest. Quarterbacks historically are not traded midseason.

The decision on Sweat and Young is complicated by the fact that even at 3-5, Washington isn’t out of the playoff chase. In the new seven-team playoff format, the Commanders sit just one game out, with a winnable matchup against the New England Patriots this week.

Rivera said watching Howell’s game on Sunday provided optimism that a mid-season surge is just around the quarter.

“I think when you start seeing the production that he’s having, it’s now time for us to go out and do the things we’re capable of,” the coach said.

“I think we’re more than capable. I really do. But again, we haven’t shown it. And that’s something that we as coaches have got to make sure we’re giving these guys every opportunity to be successful. Then, if that’s the case, we’ve got to make sure we’re executing properly.”

Rivera also lauded the switches that were made on the offensive line, with left guard Chris Paul and center Tyler Larsen taking over for Saahdiq Charles (injury) and Nick Gates (performance).

“I thought Tyler did a really nice job of setting the protections,” Rivera said. “Chris Paul got his opportunity, and he was really stout at the point. He really was. Both he and Tyler, I thought, held the point very nicely. 

“What that allowed was for Sam to hitch up and step into the throws, and I think you really see the velocity of the ball he threw and the windows he threw into - they were really well delivered.”

Is that enough to keep together the core of a promising team that, in four years, has yet to fully realize that potential?

That was for Sweat and Young to contemplate on Sunday afternoon.

“Over the past couple of years, we have really developed a camaraderie and strong friendship,” Sweat said on Sunday. “It would definitely be detrimental to split us up, but that stuff is out of our control. I know even outside of this, I’ve got a friend for life.”

Young nodded his agreement.

“That’s my brother, man,” he said. “Twin towers. We are rocking for life. That’s not going to change if we aren’t on the same team.”