The Front Office: Adam Peters and Roster Construction

[Conn]

This is absolutely dead on--the myopic discussion on wide receiver for pages in the Free Agent thread is Exhibit #1.

Likewise, you can go through that list from "RotoPat" and find numerous GMs that were objectively worse their first several years than Peters has been in his first two:

Roseman: Demoted for Chip Kelly; first 6 years in the league--3 winning seasons, going 10-6 each time, winning 0 playoff games.
John Schneider: Awesome GM. Didn't actually have personnel authority until 2024. Pete Carroll did (per Pro Football Reference)
Brad Homes: Missed the playoffs 3 of his 5 years.
Shanahan/Lynch: Objectively some of the worst drafters in the league (see Warren Sharp's analysis). Three of four losing seasons around a SB appearance. I can only imagine the discourse around these two if they worked for the Commanders.
Nick Caserio: Texans, #9 on the list. Want to talk about protecting a young QB, Caserio shows you how NOT to do it. Won 7 games his first TWO years in the league
George Paton: Three straight losing seasons his first three years; traded a haul for Russell Wilson, who was cut after one year.
Jerry Jones: BAAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA....ok, ok, no really...BAAAAAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
Ryan Poles: Won fewer games in three years than Peters has in two. Caleb is objectively mediocre, at best.
Andrew Berry: The Browns?!
Chris Ballard: Probably the single most overrated GM in the league. 4 winning seasons in 8 years. Won 1 playoff game. Traded a 1st round pick for Carson Wentz
Dan Morgan: The Panthers GM, depsite playing the in biggest joke of a division in professional sports: 0 winning season his two year, 0 playoff wins. One sub-.500 division title.

Every GM has mistakes. Ever GM makes questionable moves. Peters has more objective success this early in his career than any of these other GMs. And before you say Jerry Jones won 3 super bowls, I will point out Jimmy Johnson's coat tails he was standing on...which is subsequently blew up out of ego.

But nobody posted that article to tout its correctness, as thorough as your debunking of it has been. You’re right on a lot of your points, the main one being the timescale (and sometimes multiple coaching staffs) a bunch of these GM’s got to grow into their skillset, that AP hasn’t had yet. But the article was posted as an example of the poor perception of Peters’ efforts to support Daniels, which has been a running topic of conversation here. I don’t think anyone here would buy RotoPat a beer for that article lol.

 

[Riggo44]

But the article was posted as an example of the poor perception of Peters’ efforts to support Daniels, which has been a running topic of conversation here.

So it wasn't posted for its accuracy...but this assessment is accurate? Also, see Nick Caserio at #9 with the worst offensive line in the league. If only he had a stud LT...

 

[burgold]

Well, to be fair, not having signed a WR yet those first couple days did indeed end up being a portent that we wouldn’t be adding a reliable vet to the position group for Daniels. Which, in addition to the defense, was most peoples’ main concern for the offseason.

Nah, we were not being fair at all. We screamed that we were never going to sign anyone. That we would have the same crap pass rush, that we weren't going to do anything about tight end or the running backs. It was Rivera Part II! It was as bad as any gameday thread. You know this. You were there.

And honestly, I'm not sure we are being fair today. I mean one of the pervasive arguments we hear over and over again is that we have done nothing for Daniels and yet objectively we have signed or drafted four running backs, a tight end, and three wide receivers not to mention resigning our starting left tackle and guard. So, this argument that we've done nothing (or too little) is histrionic (even if I kind of agree with it.)

And for the fun of being optimistic, I'll argue that we are acting precisely the same today as we were in the opening hours of free agency. Diggs hasn't visited any teams (I don't think). They clearly did not want Pierce. It looks like they don't want Hill, but again, like Diggs, he's still out there. So, while I get the frustration and I want us to sign a trustworthy vet receiver yesterday I also know we are being fans (which as we know comes from the word fanatic.)

 

[DWinzit]

Nah, we were not being fair at all. We screamed that we were never going to sign anyone. That we would have the same crap pass rush, that we weren't going to do anything about tight end or the running backs. It was Rivera Part II! It was as bad as any gameday thread. You know this. You were there.

And honestly, I'm not sure we are being fair today. I mean one of the pervasive arguments we hear over and over again is that we have done nothing for Daniels and yet objectively we have signed or drafted four running backs, a tight end, and three wide receivers not to mention resigning our starting left tackle and guard. So, this argument that we've done nothing (or too little) is histrionic (even if I kind of agree with it.)

And for the fun of being optimistic, I'll argue that we are acting precisely the same today as we were in the opening hours of free agency. Diggs hasn't visited any teams (I don't think). They clearly did not want Pierce. It looks like they don't want Hill, but again, like Diggs, he's still out there. So, while I get the frustration and I want us to sign a trustworthy vet receiver yesterday I also know we are being fans (which as we know comes from the word fanatic.)

Wait, I thought they pushed hard to get Pierce until he decided to stay in Indy with a handsome raise, and really wanted Doubs after the Pierce snub butt double snubbed? They were just swing and misses with the next options being a much lower level in Dyami and Jefferson. This does feel a little like the swing and misses at HC before loading their 3rd option.

Regardless I have not lost faith in AP, just hoping he nails it on adding a WR2. Perhaps he has a trade up his sleeve,

 

[Riggo44]

This does feel a little like the swing and misses at HC before loading their 3rd option.

This is not accurate either. Throughout the process, Keim repeatedly stated Quinn was much higher than people realized. During the "Johnson is a shoo in" for us, he pushed back against that, mentioning Quinn by name. At the time, I wasn't thrilled with Quinn either, but he's grown on me.

 

[Conn]

So it wasn't posted for its accuracy...but this assessment is accurate? Also, see Nick Caserio at #9 with the worst offensive line in the league. If only he had a stud LT...

Can’t speak for the person who posted it, but I think it was posted to start a conversation and as an example of the perception some have of the job our FO has done rebuilding the roster.

 

[Riggo44]

Can’t speak for the person who posted it, but I think it was posted to start a conversation and as an example of the perception some have of the job our FO has done rebuilding the roster.

Right. The perception of someone named "RotoPat..."

 

[burgold]

Wait, I thought they pushed hard to get Pierce until he decided to stay in Indy with a handsome raise, and really wanted Doubs after the Pierce snub butt double snubbed? They were just swing and misses with the next options being a much lower level in Dyami and Jefferson. This does feel a little like the swing and misses at HC before loading their 3rd option.

Regardless I have not lost faith in AP, just hoping he nails it on adding a WR2. Perhaps he has a trade up his sleeve,

They did that, too.

 

[Conn]

I

This is not accurate either. Throughout the process, Keim repeatedly stated Quinn was much higher than people realized. During the "Johnson is a shoo in" for us, he pushed back against that, mentioning Quinn by name. At the time, I wasn't thrilled with Quinn either, but he's grown on me.

There’s a lot we don’t know from that time period, but if I remember correctly Keim really stepped up the “Quinn has a better chance than you think” rhetoric after we already had the initial zoom interviews with the spread of candidates (which we later learned went very poorly with Ben Johnson). So Keim was already operating with knowledge that things had gotten off to a poor start there, even if he did start as the assumed favorite from the outside

 

[Riggo44]

which we later learned went very poorly with Ben Johnson

We also later learned that Ben Johnson is a douchebag.

 

[skinsinparadise]

But this is you putting too much weight on 2024.

I have no idea what to rank Adam Peters. And I’m not quite sure he is the answer here.

But I’m definitely not sure he isn’t. I have a hard time ranking the guy without understanding what his limitations are. If he is hamstrung by a cash limit, then, I have a hell of a lot more understanding for some of the issues.

If he isn’t, then I probably have less.

I’m of the opinion that a GM shouldn’t really be ranked until they have three full seasons as the helm.

There are circumstances where that isn’t necessarily the case - and absolutely horrendous couple of seasons, Super Bowl seasons back to back, etc., but I’m not sure he’s rankable right now.

For 2024, I’d put him top 10. For 2025 I’d put him bottom 5.

So by average he’s in that 17-20 range.

But we’ll see. It’s just too early either way.

I am sort of in that same boat. I think ranking him 24 is harsh. It feels like he's middle of the pack GM so far but its too early to judge.

I recall burgold posting that he suspects that Peters is more respected outside of the Washington fan orbit than with Washington fans. Judging by what I've read-heard on different shows, etc, my gut on this is yes and no.

A. Yes from the context that he's like Quinn by that his personality is loved it seems like around the league, he has a lot of friends in the business, and by reputation is a really good person.

B. No from the context that I don't feel much love for his roster building, post 2024. In fairness to some among the national media, there were multiple people questioning his moves in real time during the 2025 off season even before it became cool to do so. He seems to be mostly dismissed as a GM right now. Heck his fellow GMs were critical of his current 2026 FA crop. So I think his reputation nationally somewhat mirrors his reputation with fans -- overpraised in 2024 and overcriticized from the 2025 season through today.

His tenure feels pedestrian to me so far if its purely 2024-2025 -- one extreme to another. I am leaning closer to good because I like his 2026 off season work but i don't know if it was a good off season until it plays out.

I do think Josh Harris behind the scenes aspect to this can definitely be a factor. If Harris wanted him to take it easy in 2025 and hence they weren't aggressive -- then I can forgive Peters on that end. If he pushed the cash budget as far as he could this year and Harris is putting the breaks on it now -- if so I can't fault Peters. But I don't know.

 

[skinsinparadise]

When he has a home run offseason, the lesser offseasons will retroactively become the cost of doing business. Like you said, even great GM’s have down drafts, poor trades and signings, etc. But we call those guys great GM’s because at some point in their tenure they showed they were great, between the down years. Right now AP doesn’t have that track record. Maybe this is the year that in retrospect pops off like gangbusters, recontextualizing the poor value 2024 draft (minus Jayden) and the poor 2025 FA period? That’s the hope. Eventually, to be a great (even good!) GM he has to have a great offseason, a great draft with multiple pro bowl talents or better. Just start with 1 and build on it.

Right now there’s no great offseason to cast his other offseasons in its shadow. So I’m not sure why it’s relevant that great GM’s also have replacement-level or worse offseasons, when right now that’s all our guy has on his resume. He needs to show some greatness (or very goodness) before he gets the same benefit of the doubt, I don’t know why that’s controversial. We have a regular organizational structure now, AP doesn’t have to be our savior and get unearned credit. If he doesn’t do it, the next “AP-type” can. I don’t need to be attached to the idea of AP when we can hire the next equally-qualified version if he fails.

Most people I think are salty because 2024 was a dream situation for a blue chip GM to walk into, in terms of rebuilding a franchise in his image, extra premium draft choices, massive cap space, QB pick in a QB-rich draft. It’s the opportunity a guy like Peters waited for. And the draft that should have set the foundation for our rebuild and re-emergence to prominence, ended up being Jayden Daniels and a bunch of dudes we aren’t sure will be worth resigning as more than replacement level depth or ST’s contributors. That’s a massive whiff that we’re still compensating for in the offseasons since.

Truthfully I think it all started with the shock of Ben Johnson’s violent rejection of their whole process and vibe during that hiring cycle. The guy might be an asshole, but I think we’ve been on the back foot and not executing our Plan A or Plan B (Macdonald) ever since. It’s why I’d actually give AP a second swing at a HC hire as long as his draft picks start to pan out at a higher rate. He got off on the wrong foot, even drafted for the wrong schemes and philosophies in some ways, not doing what he really came here wanting to do, from day one. I think they got punched in the mouth with their slow and hesitant hiring process and it took a long time to adjust and recover.

Anyways, if guys continue to not emerge into pro bowl talents from that first draft class and beyond, we’ll continue having to compensate for it. So until Peters really nails an offseason and shows he is indeed a stud GM exiting his cocoon, the “what could have been” of it all is pretty depressing. He has time to turn it around, and I think for the most part this offseason was a great step in the right direction, with a caveat or two that have been drilled to death here. This can be the start of something great for AP but we aren’t there yet

For Rivera's faults, three favorable things happened during his last year.

A. They sucked enough to land the 2nd pick in the draft in a killer QB draft.
B. They made trades to land an early 2nd round pick and a third
C. They left a lot of cap room.

Granted it was Rivera's incompetence that led to all of this. This situation was considered attractive at the time versus other teams because of these very reasons. All the cap room in the world, a ton of top 100 picks, and the 2nd pick in the draft in a draft with 3 bonafide QB stars who would go with the first pick in most NFL drafts.

Now that's been repackaged as poor Peters and he inherited a really bad hand. That's not true. He inherited a great rebuild situation. to his credit he didn't flub the QB choice albiet some have said he preferred McCarthy to Maye -- but still he did the obvious thing at #2 versus being cute. Kudos for that.

He also made some shrewed veteran FA signings.

But also, he did very little with all the draft capital he had. If he even landed big on just 2 of the 5 top 100 picks (aside from Jayden) I think the conversation would be different. But right now, you can argue with the 6 picks in the top 100 he landed Jayden, a rotational DT who is so so, a struggilng CB but with moments where you hope he reaches his potential, a middiling at best TE, a swing tackle, and a good special teams player. It can change this season, will see.

But if you told any of us with 6 top 100 picks, you come out of it with a QB which is great but otherwise basically one starter and that starter really struggled at times -- none of us would be happy with that.

But yeah I am not (I know you aren't either) in the camp that he was handed a bad situation and needs to be graded on a curve. Having top 3 cap room to mess with three years in a row, handed a loaded QB draft with the 2nd pick to grab one, 6 top 100 picks -- are nice hands to play with.

 

[burgold]

I think that rating is more telling about the lingering smell of the last thirty years of Redskins football. People aren't willing to give this team the benefit of the doubt. The assumption is that anything bad is the truth and anything good is the outlier and data that can be tossed out.

There was an NBA story published the other day in which pro Basketball players said the Wizards as the team they least wanted to play for. This despite massive efforts to update their locker rooms and facilities, a bevy of young talent, and the number one draft pick.

It takes years to wash the stink off this organization. Probably even for us fans. That Snyder PTSD still dominates and leads many to reject the idea that this team can be good or that we have anything good going. To worsen things, we're still more or less ignored nationally and lazy reporters instead of doing fresh investigation repeat the stuff that's been safe to say about this team since the start of the century.

That said, I don't recant my belief that people inside football respect Peters. Mind you, I suspect they also respected Schottenheimer, Shanahan, and others and that respect never really translated to anything good. So, the assumption that we will stink is team's perma-narrative until we can pull together at least five consecutive years of success. Okay, it may be less than that. A number of people did jump on the bandwagon after 2024 and the predictions were positive, but it's such a feeble, fragile positivity. It's an egg just so ready to crack.

 

[burgold]

And yeah, Peters was handed a good situation because he was handed such a terrible hand.

It's both. He basically was given an empty roster with only three players he thought worth keeping out of fifty-three. McLaurin, Cosmi, and Way. That's garbage. That's radioactive wasteland level garbage. Getting to start from scratch is cool in the abstract, but starting from zero isn't easy.

Now, I agree with you that his drafts haven't panned out. I'll add that his trades have had mixed results. I leaven that (we can call it grading on a curve) by saying I don't know how many games we win in 2025 if we hadn't had the injury situation we suffered. I mean we were starting our seventh string defensive end and our eight string wide receiver to go along with our third string QB and fourth string running back (I think at the beginning of the year the depth chart was Ekeler, Bill, McNichols, Rodriguez... and Rodriguez wasn't even active for much of the season.

Add to that Whitt's crap coaching and it's so hard to know how bad we drafted or assembled.

 

[Conn]

I think that rating is more telling about the lingering smell of the last thirty years of Redskins football. People aren't willing to give this team the benefit of the doubt. The assumption is that anything bad is the truth and anything good is the outlier and data that can be tossed out.

There was an NBA story published the other day in which pro Basketball players said the Wizards as the team they least wanted to play for. This despite massive efforts to update their locker rooms and facilities, a bevy of young talent, and the number one draft pick.

It takes years to wash the stink off this organization. Probably even for us fans. That Snyder PTSD still dominates and leads many to reject the idea that this team can be good or that we have anything good going. To worsen things, we're still more or less ignored nationally and lazy reporters instead of doing fresh investigation repeat the stuff that's been safe to say about this team since the start of the century.

That said, I don't recant my belief that people inside football respect Peters. Mind you, I suspect they also respected Schottenheimer, Shanahan, and others and that respect never really translated to anything good. So, the assumption that we will stink is team's perma-narrative until we can pull together at least five consecutive years of success. Okay, it may be less than that. A number of people did jump on the bandwagon after 2024 and the predictions were positive, but it's such a feeble, fragile positivity. It's an egg just so ready to crack.

Right, and those prognosticators who looked past the longtime stank and hopped on the bandwagon after 2024 were punished severely for it. You can imagine the random media types who ranked us highly going into 2025 looking back on things and saying “so other than a couple trades for vets, these clowns basically stood pat with their elderly roster going into 2025, running it back with the same crew and then bottoming out due to copious injuries, young players not emerging, and had their thin QB spend most of the season injured? And then fired both their coordinators? Yeah I’m not getting suckered in by them again”

None of that matters to what actually happens on the field, none of it is predictive, but it makes sense why the media narrative is largely that we don’t deserve further benefit of the doubt until we earn it again.

 

[DWinzit]

Peters was handed such a terrible hand that here was no way to go but up. Any roster additions that made sense should have been immediate improvements to the crap he inherited. That's a big part of why all the misses or question marks that surround so many of the top 100 selections he had in 2024 are even more baffling. They should have had little problem integrating into significant long term roles. Instead year 3 and most of them are still under evaluation as to what the bring to the table. I am hopeful the new coordinators will make a big difference with their future.

 

[burgold]

I think that's fair. My only quibble is with Brandon Coleman. Coleman was a good story in 2024. He didn't deserve to be demoted and cast aside. Maybe ultimately Connerly will prove the better tackle, but we should have three strong starters out of that draft (Jayden, Mike, and Brandon.) Again, while I put that on the coaches more than Peters it's also true that Peters didn't have to listen to his coaches and could have gone with a wide receiver or edge.

 

[skinsinparadise]

Right, and those prognosticators who looked past the longtime stank and hopped on the bandwagon after 2024 were punished severely for it. You can imagine the random media types who ranked us highly going into 2025 looking back on things and saying “so other than a couple trades for vets, these clowns basically stood pat with their elderly roster going into 2025, running it back with the same crew and then bottoming out due to copious injuries, young players not emerging, and had their thin QB spend most of the season injured? And then fired both their coordinators? Yeah I’m not getting suckered in by them again”

None of that matters to what actually happens on the field, none of it is predictive, but it makes sense why the media narrative is largely that we don’t deserve further benefit of the doubt until we earn it again.

That, combined with last season, made it feel like old school Redskins (last 30 years) were back. They weren’t even competitive in a number of games, and at times it looked like a throwback to the worst of the old-school Redskins years.

And yeah, Peters was handed a good situation because he was handed such a terrible hand.

It's both. He basically was given an empty roster with only three players he thought worth keeping out of fifty-three. McLaurin, Cosmi, and Way. That's garbage. That's radioactive wasteland level garbage. Getting to start from scratch is cool in the abstract, but starting from zero isn't easy.

Now, I agree with you that his drafts haven't panned out. I'll add that his trades have had mixed results. I leaven that (we can call it grading on a curve) by saying I don't know how many games we win in 2025 if we hadn't had the injury situation we suffered. I mean we were starting our seventh string defensive end and our eight string wide receiver to go along with our third string QB and fourth string running back (I think at the beginning of the year the depth chart was Ekeler, Bill, McNichols, Rodriguez... and Rodriguez wasn't even active for much of the season.

Add to that Whitt's crap coaching and it's so hard to know how bad we drafted or assembled.

As for league-wide respect for Peters—it depends how you define it. In the literal sense, sure. He’s well-liked, experienced, and has a strong scouting background. Ron Rivera had that same kind of respect -- good dude, football lifer, etc, well liked by the media and other coaches.

But I don’t get the sense that people around the league view him as great at his job—at least not yet. I was actually a bit surprised reading that The Athletic piece where personnel people around the league weren’t particularly high on his offseason this year.

At a minimum, if you look at the national media, mock drafts, power rankings, and even the general tone of league chatter when its referenced somehow, it doesn’t feel like there’s much belief in the roster he’s built so far.

For me personally, I’ve been critical of some of Peters’ moves, but on balance I’ve liked what he’s done. That said, that’s clearly not the prevailing national view right now which is that this is one of the worst rosters in the NFL. And the way the league works these days, seems like 3 years is given as ample time to build a roster. So my guess is plenty of love for Peters the person, at a minimum questions about Peters the GM.

But I agree with KDawg, its a TBD. Too early to tell. He needs at least three seasons to play out. And we don't know if Harris has restricted him some. And also, hey not everyone is killer at their job from the jump, it can take time.

 

[SkinsLife]

I actually think many here are giving Peters too much of a pass. He hasnt shown anything beyond at best avg GM skills so far.
And the whole 'well, let him learn on the job' bs is overplayed. In Todays NFL, when you take the GM job its based on experience you showed in the past, much like 1st rd QBs are expected to produce year 1 today vs 15y ago when they sat on the bench and learned. Todays GMs are much more advanced in their knowledge and i dont want to sit through 4y of his mistakes, so it can finally click for him in year 5.
1. He inherited a team with a weak roster .. true. But also a lot of cap space, 2nd overall pick and nowhere to go but up.
now lets look at results:
1. After missing on 2 high end coaches, Hired an at best average coach, who already canned both coordinators
2. drafted a potentially elite QB, who cant stay healthy so the jury is still out (Maye might actually turn out to be the better choice)
3. Turned over a large chunk of the roster with questionable results and old ass players that got hurt
4 .playing one of the easiest schedules in the NFL, reached the conference game mostly on QBs back and luck
5. made some highly questionable trades that blew up
6. in 25 questionable roster fell apart due to a few injuries, but likely would have been a down year even without inj
7. Chose to keep Quinn for another rebuild which highly limited available Coord pool
8. After below average drafts, in 26 completely turned over the roster again, partly due to his questionable roster building in 24-25, yet failed to add real weapons on O and now with 2 new coordinators and growing pains that are surely to come .. again hoping for a lot of luck.

To me this is his last year.. if the team against crashes, and Daniels get hurt for a large chunk.. its time to move on form him. Now its becoming a pattern of questionable decisions blowing up in his face.

 

[DWinzit]

I think that's fair. My only quibble is with Brandon Coleman. Coleman was a good story in 2024. He didn't deserve to be demoted and cast aside. Maybe ultimately Connerly will prove the better tackle, but we should have three strong starters out of that draft (Jayden, Mike, and Brandon.) Again, while I put that on the coaches more than Peters it's also true that Peters didn't have to listen to his coaches and could have gone with a wide receiver or edge.

I am completely with you and have been with your quibble. There was a group of players I'd have taken over Conerly because I did't think we needed a T. A few I liked and would have taken I no particular order - Henderson, Higgins, Emmanwori, Simmons, Campbell.