The Front Office: Adam Peters and Roster Construction

[DWinzit]

not really fair to hold Diggs against him. Who says Diggs was even willing to sign earlier? Aiyuk may have been the plan, one A LOT of people were on board with as long as it was handled the right way...and it was. We didnt trade for him, and it would have been a short term - team friendly prove it deal. Problem is, he went off his rocker. Peters deserves credit for not making the move at the cost of assets imho. It's very possible he pivoted to Diggs a while ago, and Diggs just didnt want to participate in the early part of camp... it's not an abnormal thing. He may have drug his feet, but we have zero evidence that it was all Peters waiting... until Diggs comes out and says "nah, i was ready to sign in June" it's all speculation.

You are correct if there was indeed discussion with Diggs during the Aiyuk bowing up period. It sure did not not come across that way for quite some time based on all I read and heard from most media outlets and any other grave vine talk. sure that's not gospel, but some of these guys have ears all over. I also ended my comment with "but he did make amends" . What I meant was he didn't miss out on Diggs....thank freaking goodness

 

[Voice_of_Reason]

I mean, any GM who has done the job well enough to be a competitive hire is employed, right? In a position he can’t be hired out of? Not sure what veteran GM option could have been realistic, though I understand the idea.

People also forget that Harris isn’t a total noob. He was a minority share owner with the Steelers for a few years and sold his shares to buy Washington. Now to be fair that was during Pittsburgh’s lowlight era, but he still got his NFL sea legs under him observing how one of the most consistently professional franchises in the league operated, during a time of total stability for them. He wasn’t a total outsider and had spent some years making relationships with the other owners, which is how most future majority NFL owners do it (starting as a minority owner for a while)

Veteran GMs move around. The most obvious example is Bill Polian who built the Bills teams who went to 4 SBs and then the colts teams with Peyton.

There were veteran options out there. I don’t remember who.

Even Bobby Beathard ended up with the Chargers after here.

There are other recent examples, but those are the really famous obvious ones even though it’s long ago.

I’m not suggesting that’s the way they should have gone. I was stoked with the Peters hire.

I’m just saying, in hindsight, maybe there was another option.

the more that comes out, it appears as though they really bungled the HC process. Maybe a veteran GM doesn’t do that.

 

[Conn]

Veteran GMs move around. The most obvious example is Bill Polian who built the Bills teams who went to 4 SBs and then the colts teams with Peyton.

There were veteran options out there. I don’t remember who.

Even Bobby Beathard ended up with the Chargers after here.

There are other recent examples, but those are the really famous obvious ones even though it’s long ago.

I’m not suggesting that’s the way they should have gone. I was stoked with the Peters hire.

I’m just saying, in hindsight, maybe there was another option.

the more that comes out, it appears as though they really bungled the HC process. Maybe a veteran GM doesn’t do that.

Idk, it’s not my argument so I don’t really care to delve into the research aspect, but without specific proven veteran candidates who make sense I just think it’s an empty theory. But I do get what you’re saying, it’s fine if it’s just an off the cuff thought on the situation. Agreed that regardless we were all rightly pumped for the pedigree and hype behind Peters and probably would have been annoyed if we went another direction

 

[Boone]

On the uproar over APs 'patronizing' comments...

If I'm a GM, my mantra would be... 'We are doing everything we can to put together the best roster possible and will continue to do that. It is my job to put the best 53 players on the field and I will be judged on how well my team is able to do that, just as every front office is. Putting together a consistent winner over time is our goal and we are doing all we can to achieve that.'

I would never deviate from that basic message.

The bottom line - it doesn't matter what a GM says. The only thing that matters is the results. Nothing Peters could've said yesterday would make me feel more confident in our OL an DB situations. Making fans 'feel better' isn't in the job description. What will make me feel better is seeing those units exceed expectations on the field.

 

[KDawg]

On the uproar over APs 'patronizing' comments...

If I'm a GM, my mantra would be... 'We are doing everything we can to put together the best roster possible and will continue to do that. It is my job to put the best 53 players on the field and I will be judged on how well my team is able to do that, just as every front office is. Putting together a consistent winner over time is our goal and we are doing all we can to achieve that.'

I would never deviate from that basic message.

The bottom line - it doesn't matter what a GM says. The only thing that matters is the results. Nothing Peters could've said yesterday would make me feel more confident in our OL an DB situations. Making fans 'feel better' isn't in the job description. What will make me feel better is seeing those units exceed expectations on the field.

100%

As a GM, you also want to make sure you aren’t taking pot shots at your fanbase.

Your message should always be, “We are confident in the roster that we have but remain vigilant on improving our roster every day.” And leave it there.

If commenting about fans, no matter how you feel, the message should be, “fans are passionate and have opinions. We continue to do our best to make sure our organization and fanbase are provided the best possible product that we can put on the field”

The proof is completely then on the product.

And if fans choose to believe or not believe, that isn’t the GMs job to deceiver. Put the best roster on the field. Period.

 

[Boone]

The problem with the 'the fans think they know, but they don't know' argument is that many times, the fans DO know and their fears and crticisms are fully realized. It's also not 1960. Fans have access to an incredible wealth of information on which to base their opinions. That doesn't mean that many fans aren't overreactive and hyperbolic and ridiculous. But fans are well-equipped to form educated opinions far more than ever before. So avoiding anything that smacks of 'the fans are ignorant and can't see what we are doing accurately' is probably an ill-advised mindset.

I want to say one unpopular thing on AP and the GM/HC situation.

One of the things that has held this franchise back and kept us entrenched in mediocrity for decades has been the constant blowing up of the leadership. We have had as many head coaches and front office staff as any NFL team in the modern era. That's not to argue that we should still have Bruce Allen and Jim Zorn in place. But the constant hiring and firing of key leaders has made it nearly impossible to have any hope for sustained success.

While I think AP and Dan Quinn's ceilings are still an open question, I think you can make the argument that even if 2026 isn't a fulfilling success, exercising some extra patience might be the better move vs. what we always do - which is blowing it up and starting over.

 

[KDawg]

The problem with the 'the fans think they know, but they don't know' argument is that many times, the fans DO know and their fears and crticisms are fully realized. It's also not 1960. Fans have access to an incredible wealth of information on which to base their opinions. That doesn't mean that many fans aren't overreactive and hyperbolic and ridiculous. But fans are well-equipped to form educated opinions far more than ever before. So avoiding anything that smacks of 'the fans are ignorant and can't see what we are doing accurately' is probably an ill-advised mindset.

I want to say one unpopular thing on AP and the GM/HC situation.

One of the things that has held this franchise back and kept us entrenched in mediocrity for decades has been the constant blowing up of the leadership. We have had as many head coaches and front office staff as any NFL team in the modern era. That's not to argue that we should still have Bruce Allen and Jim Zorn in place. But the constant hiring and firing of key leaders has made it nearly impossible to have any hope for sustained success.

While I think AP and Dan Quinn's ceilings are still an open question, I think you can make the argument that even if 2026 isn't a fulfilling success, exercising some extra patience might be the better move vs. what we always do - which is blowing it up and starting over.

I agree but also will give some push back. We stuck with Norv and Gruden probably too long, Schottenheimer too short, Rivera was about a year too long.

I think the issue our front office has had over the years is more that they hang too long on those they shouldn’t and too short on those that should… which is a complicated situation and one that just kind of equates to feelings and not really objectivity in most cases.

I’m not sure where I stand on Quinn. But from a roster building standpoint, I think firing both coordinators and keeping Quinn was a mistake. It limits coordinator candidates due to perception of a lame duck coach.

That is not an indictment on Quinn. Just the landscape.

Keeping Quinn means we either have to stick with him a few more years to see it through to avoid unnecessary turnover, or he is directly tied to results with the current staff.

I think it’s probably the latter. So they need success. But the coaching staff is very inexperienced across the board, which means we are going to face situations that we aren’t ready for.

But, this was a decision AP made for better or worse. If it works out, both he and Quinn should be safe for awhile, because it looks genius. If it doesn’t work out… you get the point.

 

[Primus Porcus]

I think the issue our front office has had over the years is more that they hang too long on those they shouldn’t and too short on those that should… which is a complicated situation and one that just kind of equates to feelings and not really objectivity in most cases.

I only ask you to remember that this is a completely different front office / ownership group / everything. This data point is moot when we're talking about trends. It's BRAND NEW, and influences of the past have to be thrown out.

 

[burgold]

I'm going to put this in the writing world.

When you finish drafting a novel after going through the first edits, the next step is to send it out to your writing group or to beta readers. The purpose of the beta reader/writing group is to do a developmental critique. That means that they are looking for logical inconsistencies, missing storylines, or places where the writer loses the reader. In other words, it's a big picture look at the story, characters, and plot. In my groups when receiving the feedback, the author is not permitted to talk because we don't want that person to intimidate the readers. You listen, digest, ask your follow up questions, and then get to work. Now, it is wise for the writer not to try to please and resolve every comment of every beta reader because some are wrong and sometimes when trying to please everyone you ruin the thing. However, if all the beta readers or a majority of them independently cite a problem then the author best address it.

Now often, the beta readers don't have the fix. The suggestions they make are more about how they would write the story and patching the immediate problem when the issue might be in the lack of set up a few chapters earlier or something else. It's even possible that the problem may not be an actual problem. (A failed running play may have nothing to do with the running back but the way the linemen are keying the run to tip off the D.) So, you don't necessarily do what the readers tell you to do, but you do listen.

Turning to Peters, when fans, analysts, mediots, and former players are all saying there's a problem that probably means that there's a problem that needs to be addressed. Now, the fan suggestion of Glasgow may not be the answer. Fishing the waiver wire may not be the answer. Peters may even think he's right that the answer is a combo of scheme and Alegretti, but regardless, the GM and HC are a fool if everyone sees a problem and they ignore it.

In fairness, I know they aren't ignoring it. Hopefully the resolution to the problem they choose is the right one.

 

[KDawg]

I only ask you to remember that this is a completely different front office / ownership group / everything. This data point is moot when we're talking about trends. It's BRAND NEW, and influences of the past have to be thrown out.

Understood.

Doesn’t change our history as a franchise.

But that doesn’t change the point that it is based entirely on feeling, nor Boone’s that our problem was moving on too soon at times.

This regime either follows the pattern or doesn’t. We’ll see.

 

[SkinsNumberOne]

Well, you can fire coaches and GMs in one year after success. You can keep them after 3 years of horrible failure. The factors that make those decisions are almost completely invisible to us as fans, I think. The key factors are in the details of the *how* they go about their business and not the results.

This is the "process over results" mantra. If you truly look at *how* guys are making decisions, then you can judge them better.

My read with our limited window is DQ's process is flawed. It's difficult to see through the glass, but from what I can tell, it's flawed. With KK, he revealed some of his process (again: he tells useful things in his pressers): he said, KK was a guy he had a tough time gameplanning against, and that was one of his key indicators for choosing his OC. A guy he had difficulty game-planning against. I think that is OK/bad criteria. You could do worse. There's so much context missing though. KK had a resume with some question marks, and the window Q may have been focused on, may have missed some of that,

KK was who we thought he was philosophically, and DQ didn't like that after 2 years. That's 2 years... wasted. Some will say: but NFCCG. Yes, I enjoyed that year, but we may suffer for 5 because of that 1. You could argue it's worth it. I do not. The goal is SB or progress towards that. We'll see, if we right the ship in a year or two, I think it was worth it. I am doubtful that happens.

On the same token, when you are "inside the room" - you absolutely CAN keep guys on if they seem to fail. You can see they are learning and their process is getting better, or the results just aren't following good process. That can happen.

AP; unfortunately, his process has some question marks too. There are some relatively solid indications that he listens to his coordinators and coaches a lot. There should be collaboration there, absolutely, but sometimes you need a GM who will say this is who you are getting for these reasons. There are some indications that AP hasn't done that. Maybe it's experience. Maybe with Blough and Jones, he's different. I actually don't expect that, and I think that is a problem with his GM philosophy. I guess we'll see.

We aren't in the room. It's tough to see all of these details. I think AP has more of a chance to get better than DQ for a variety of reasons. DQ said he learned a lot from all of his coaching years and he had things really set going in, but his tenure hasn't signaled that well.

 

[SkinsNumberOne]

I will say: Blough. Jones.

They seem solid. The criteria and process have more visible sense from our window.

I don’t understand the assistant coaches though, at least not a few key ones. So, at least for me, that is highly concerning.

 

[skinsinparadise]

Finlay-Mitchell talking about it now -- Finlay saying he liked the arrogance coming from Peters yesterday. it shows he believes in himself-the team. I guess i need to relisten to it -- they mentioned Peters citing the joint practice with the Dolphins as a key marker about the team. I missed that when I watched it. Personally, I became less impressed with the Dolphins week after reading about how the Giants dominated them even more.

But regardless, i am good with Peters feeling good about himself and the team. But lol, only if it works. Otherwise you end up looking bad at the end. But will see.

As for the fan-FO stuff. In defense of the fan base, too many times the fans ended up right over the years versus the FO -- granted that's been mostly pre-Peters but some of that has bled into this regime too. Would i want myself or anyone here running this FO -- lol, hell no. We aren't experts. But sadly the trust the experts routine hasn't always aged well. Hopefully, Peters puts an end to that run.

 

[SkinsNumberOne]

While I think AP and Dan Quinn's ceilings are still an open question, I think you can make the argument that even if 2026 isn't a fulfilling success, exercising some extra patience might be the better move vs. what we always do - which is blowing it up and starting over.

One potentially huge part of this argument to keep both: if they (owner, gm, hc) have a positive working relationship, that’s worth a lot. The devil you know. Sure the results are imperfect or even bad at times but are they improving?

If the vector is pointing upwards even slightly, it means we are slowly, ploddingly, getting better.

For example, maybe next year the light bulb turns on and donatell is let go. Or maybe he isn’t the issue and someone else- but the point is they recognize it in y4 because they are slowly figuring it out, where a better hc may have had it in y1 or y2.

So, maybe we are just doomed (currently) to slow improvement. If we don’t have a good season this year, I think that would be the main crux or the root of reasoning to keep both around. I do think both coordinators were well chosen, after two to start who were… eh? The words around whitt were ok, but DQ knew him super well so we trusted that… and it didn’t age well. So this time around it definitely feels better.

 

[skinsinparadise]

found it


So where does the confidence really come from?

“There’s been a lot of times where we haven’t had our players out there, whether it’s been in the games or even at practice. So, I look back to how we did against the Dolphins and just seeing when we had the full arsenal of players up front, offensively, defensively, to seeing what we’re capable of. And very confident in that.”

When Washington hosted the Dolphins for a joint practice in mid-August that was a one-sided affair too, only the Commanders were the better team. And the margin wasn’t small.

 

[Kalu44]

That’s great and all that AP feels good about the starters performance against the Dolphins, but they are the Dolphins after all. If we played them all 17 games this year, I’d be pumped about the roster too. PS: the Dolphins claimed 7 players off waivers….so yeah AP, don’t base your good feelings off that team please.

 

[skinsinparadise]

Adam Peters and Dan Quinn are confident in the Commanders. Now, they have to be right​

On Monday, Adam Peters assessed his third Washington Commanders operation thusly: “I have a ton of confidence in this team. I have a ton of confidence in this coaching staff.”

Dan Quinn, the man who will coach the players Peters picked, evaluated the entire preseason like this: “I thought as a team standpoint, we threw a really productive and tough camp. … It was good to see the systems come to life offensively and defensively.”

That’s great, gentlemen. Now, the tricky part: You have to be right.

...So here we are. This is Peters’ team. It is Quinn’s to coach. This is not a year to build. It is not a bridge to something in the future. It’s a year to produce. Harris has to be watching — and closely, right?

(There is the matter of the owner’s NBA franchise up Interstate 95 and the global icon he signed to help win a championship there. But something tells us the Philadelphia 76ers will never mean as much to Harris as his hometown Commanders. Lose the gauntlet of an opening stretch at Philadelphia, at Dallas and home against Super Bowl champion Seattle and the focus will be in Ashburn — whether LeBron James is in Sixers training camp or not.)

When Peters arrived in early 2024 to replace Ron Rivera — remember when that guy got to make all the decisions? — he was not only Harris’ first major hire. He represented something more: a seasoned football professional who had learned for two decades under other seasoned football professionals and would be empowered to make football decisions for the franchise. What a concept.

....“Obviously, fans are passionate,” Peters said. “And you love to have passionate fans. That’s great. But there’s a lot of stuff that we’re doing here that maybe they don’t see and there’s a lot of things that I’m really excited to see in a couple weeks.”

September is just starting. This isn’t the time to panic. It is, however, time to take ownership. Adam Peters, Dan Quinn, the team you’re confident in is all yours.

“We have the right types of guys throughout the whole building,” Peters said. “We have really good competitors. We have really good people in the building. I’m really proud of that.”

That self-assessment could be seen as overly sunny. Doesn’t matter. It just has to be correct, and it has to lead to results.

Adam Peters and Dan Quinn are confident in the Commanders. Now, they have to be right

Washington's general manager and coach are pitching that their team is prepared for the real games to start. We'll see soon.

www.nytimes.com

 

[Chris]

Adam Peters-

“I think that obviously fans are passionate and you love to have passionate fans and that’s great, but there’s a lot of stuff that we’re doing here that maybe they don’t see and there’s a lot of things that I’m really excited to see in a couple of weeks. We couldn’t be more thrilled to start our season where we’re starting it and it’s going to be a great challenge and we’re looking forward to it.”


Lance Newmark-

“In terms of comparing Matt (Gulbin) or comparing anyone on our team to what’s out there on the other 31 teams, that process is very in-depth. Our scouts do a very good job of monitoring all the preseason games. We have a very in-depth process, we have a real time board where every option is populated. We have real-time reports after each game- week 1, week 2, week 3. So in the end we compare what’s out there in the league to what we have, to see if something makes sense, at every position really. In the end we looked at a lot of different options on the interior and we felt good about where we’re at.”

 

[NickyJ]

"In the end we looked at a lot of different options on the interior and we felt good about where we’re at."

That sounds like the "a lot of stuff" AP said we couldn't see in the background were the practice squad OT, TEs, and CB signed today. Alrighty then.

 

[Voice_of_Reason]

Finlay-Mitchell talking about it now -- Finlay saying he liked the arrogance coming from Peters yesterday. it shows he believes in himself-the team. I guess i need to relisten to it -- they mentioned Peters citing the joint practice with the Dolphins as a key marker about the team. I missed that when I watched it. Personally, I became less impressed with the Dolphins week after reading about how the Giants dominated them even more.

But regardless, i am good with Peters feeling good about himself and the team. But lol, only if it works. Otherwise you end up looking bad at the end. But will see.

As for the fan-FO stuff. In defense of the fan base, too many times the fans ended up right over the years versus the FO -- granted that's been mostly pre-Peters but some of that has bled into this regime too. Would i want myself or anyone here running this FO -- lol, hell no. We aren't experts. But sadly the trust the experts routine hasn't always aged well. Hopefully, Peters puts an end to that run.

I think it was pretty easy for the fans to be negative about the team and correct for 30 years, because the people running the team were pretty bad and the teams were pretty bad for basically 30 years. If you just bet on "they don't know what they're doing" you hit a whole lot more than you missed from 1993 - 2023.

There were a lot of roster questions in 2024 also. WR2 was a question, backup center was a question then also. A lot of folks questioned brining in so many veterans with injury concerns (Ertz, Ekler, etc.). And it worked out just fine. Now, there are some folks who are trying to retroactively say "easy schedule and Daniels was responsible for all of it" and downplaying the overall roster construction. But one way or another, the team made it to the NFC Championship game, and won 2 road playoff games.

So sometimes fans are right, sometimes they are not. Sometimes FOs are right, sometimes they are not.

Unpopular opinion (for reasons I don't quite understand) : we would have been in playoff contention last year if not for the ridiculous number of injuries.
- Starting QB for 10 games
- Starting RB for virtually the entire season (Ekler)
- Starting TE for more than half the season (Ertz)
- Starting WR for 8-9 games (McLaurin)
- WR2 for virtually the entire season (Noah Brown), + Deebo (whatever position he was) for a game plus several others limited, McCaffery for half the season, Lane for the end of the season. Every one of the projected WRs either ended up on IR or missed games.
- Every starting DE
- Backup QB for the end of the season
- Starting Safety for much of the season
... More than I can't think of off the top of my head.

There's no way to really overcome all of that. If they suffered average injuries, I think they could absolutely have won 10 or so games.

I'll hear you out that the roster was put together counting on some guys with injury history, the most notable was Noah Brown. That was an obvious mistake to count on a guy who gets injured a lot. But you can't say the same for every guy who got injured.