I wouldn’t blame Washington Commanders general manager Adam Peters if he held a press conference, stood in front of a microphone waving a copy of his team’s roster, and declared, “How do you like them now?”
At 4-1, going into a marquee matchup that the whole NFL is talking about against the Ravens in Baltimore, I would say we pretty much like them now.
That wasn’t the case before the season started. We weren’t very impressed with his roster building. Well, some of us weren’t impressed with it. Well, I wasn’t.
It seemed as if Peters was Costco shopping, buying bargains in bulk. Jeremy McNichols, Clelin Ferrell, Olamide Zaccheaus, Austin Ekeler, Tyler Biadasz and others. There was one Pro Bowl between the whole bunch – except for Bobby Wagner, of course, a future Hall of Famer.
I know he reportedly was coming off a great year, but how old is he? Didn’t he play in the RGIII playoff game against Seattle in 2012.’
More than 30 new players in the draft and free agency, and they still had $26 million left to spend under the salary cap when Peters had filled up his cart and checked out.
No Saquan Barkley. No Danielle Hunter. Remember Brandon Aiyuk and all the begging to trade for the disgruntled 49ers receiver?
Then, when the rest of the league made their cuts before the season started and there were new bargains to be had, we all figured Peters would go on a shopping spree. The blue light special light was flashing.
Peters didn’t flinch. He said, no – we’re fine.
“I want to thank our pro staff, our pro scouting staff,” he told reporters “They scoured pre-season tape for hours and hours and hours, and really got together and gave us a lot of really good candidates to bring in and to bring up and made tapes, had our coaches watch them and all that. But in the end, I think it really speaks to the guys we have in this building and looking through the waiver wire and being really happy with the guys that we have. And we thought you compare them to the guys that you have and the guys that are out there, and we thought the guys that we have in the building we’re really happy with.”
There was skepticism. There were questions about the offensive line and their ability to protect their prize in the draft, quarterback Jayden Daniels. There were questions about the weapons that Peters had given his rookie quarterback to rely on when he was under duress. Heck, he traded the team’s 2022 first-round pick, receiver Jahan Dotson to the Eagles.
And the defense. The defense. Cover your eyes.
Well … har de har har har.
Washington has the fourth-best offense in the league, averaging 392.6 yards per game. This offensive line we were so worried about is ranked second in rushing in the NFL, averaging 178.4 yards per game. They lead the league in scoring, averaging 31 points per game.
The rookie quarterback we were concerned about? Daniels is playing the game at a historically high level for a rookie, ranked fourth in the league in quarterback rating.
The defense? You can watch now – ranked 14th in the league, after being at the bottom last year.
When he did shop, Peters was cautious and conservative. Receiver Noah Brown. Linebacker Nick Bellore. Brown has nine catches for 111 yards so far this season, and Bellore has been a special teams demon.
When he met with reporters when cuts were made, Peters spoke about the philosophy behind his roster building.
“I think it really just goes back to one core philosophy is you always want to do what’s best for the team, and that’s for the short and long term,” he said. “And so every decision we make is going to be with that in mind and we’re going to talk about it, and there’s going to be a lot of different things that come across in our desks. We sit down and we talk about it. Do we think this is the right move for us right now and for the future? And so each time, each individual decision is going to be the same thought process. Is this the best for our team? And that’s going to drive our decision-making.”
Typically, roster building in this organization has been more self-indulgent.
I know it’s early, and this collection of bargains that Peters has put together may only be successful as long as their rookie quarterback plays at an unprecedented level. So no bows yet. But a mic drop may be in order.
• You can hear Thom Loverro on The Kevin Sheehan Show podcast.
• Thom Loverro can be reached at tloverro@washingtontimes.com.
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