At 3-6, hopefully the team can get back to building the team for sustained success and not continue looking for the short-term fixes.
We draft Daniels, but there was no way with the talent here in 2024 left over from the Rivera regime that this team was set up for a long run.
Mahomes enjoyed that immediate opportunity because he joined a 10-6 team that had already made the playoffs in multiple years and had drafted very well over that time in providing some core performers, which they continued to do.
They kept their draft picks and added guys like Chris Jones, Trent McDuffie, Snead and others WHILE Mahomes was maturing.
In the back of my mind I had that little voice telling me that trading for Lattimore and giving up future vital picks was probably a mistake.
All the hype around using Daniels rookie contract to win a Super Bowl was a stretch - again, because this was basically an expansion team in terms of overall talent in 2024 with new staff, front office coming in.
Realistically, we were looking at Daniels learning and growing and Washington coming out in Year 3 or 4 as a playoff team that is ascending to contender status.
Paying Daniels in Year 4 meant all those picks were VITAL to continue building under the cap.
The 2024 run to the playoffs was a bit like 2010 in that it gave a false view of where this team was from top to bottom.
I would have preferred a more traditional approach like the Patriots took where they continued to draft players and not deal picks for older veterans to try and pimp the process.
Those picks we traded with a good eye for talent could have added 3-4 contributing players and starters.
At the same time we could have continued to scan practice squads and UDFAs to bring in YOUNGER, FASTER, MORE AGGRESSIVE players over time - turning THEM over to find diamonds in the rough instead of 30 year old players that were nearing the end of their careers and have performed - at least on defense - at a replacement level.
Signing guys like Treylon Burks and taking Drake Jackson and putting him on IR to have him rehab for later in the season or 2026 - these are the kinds of cheap moves for high picks and younger guys that are hit or miss - but cost relatively little and have the potential upside of finding guys that can live up to their potential, especially in Burks case, with a better organization.
It would have been nice for Daniels to parachute into a team that was ready to support him over a 3-4 year period on his rookie deal, but we really didn't have the wide receivers, offensive linemen or defense to do for Washington what KC did for Mahomes or what the Eagles did for Hurts.
That Eagles team had a number of holdovers from the 2018 Super Bowl and Roseman was quick to amass draft picks with multiples in each round by moving down and the couple of trades he made at the time brought in AJ Brown and some other players that were IN THEIR PRIMES at the time of the deal.
Picking in the top 10-12 picks for multiple seasons also helped the Eagles.
Washington had too big a talent deficit to be picking at #29 in each round in 2025, we need additional impact core performers and those are most often found in the top 10.
A defensive star to match Daniels on offense (like the Texans started with Will Anderson to complement Stroud) and start to build a credible defense.
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