It’s been a busy offseason for the Washington Commanders. It all began on Jan. 8, when owner Josh Harris fired head coach Ron Rivera. Within a week, Harris hired general manager Adam Peters to start a new era.
Next came the hiring of head coach Dan Quinn, who hired an impressive coaching staff. Peters essentially left the front office intact, except for hiring Lance Newmark away from the Detroit Lions as his new assistant general manager.
The lack of front-office movement was no surprise, considering every NFL team was in the middle of draft preparation. Scouts and executives usually have contracts that run through the NFL draft, meaning that type of movement is reserved for after the draft.
Once the draft ended and the calendar turned to May, Peters began making moves to shape the front office in his vision. Several former executives and scouts were allowed to depart, and Peters replaced them with qualified and respected candidates from across the NFL.
On Tuesday, the most newsworthy item was Washington and vice president of football strategy Eugene Shen parting ways. Shen was hired in October to lead Washington’s analytics program under Harris. However, Peters hired Brandon Sosna away from Detroit last month as the new senior vice president of football operations. Sosna will lead the analytics department.
The Commanders and Shen parted on amicable terms and it appears as if he could be moving into another role for Harris Blitzer Sports Entertainment.
Source tells me Eugene Shen leaving Commanders and new SVP Football Ops Brandon Sosna will lead analytics with Adam Peters. Sounds like Shen could land similar analytical role in other Josh Harris’ group HBSE. All parties on good terms, Commanders spokesperson statement below pic.twitter.com/f4Ob1Cv4Nz
— JP Finlay (@JPFinlayNBCS) June 25, 2024
Several in the organization received promotions, including Sean DeBarbieri to vice president of football communications. Rob Rogers, who was Washington’s chief contract negotiator, goes from senior vice president of football administration to VP of football administration. Rogers will likely report to Sosna and, of course, Peters.
Also, team legend Doug Williams, who has held several different roles in the organization since his return to the front office in 2014, is now a senior advisor to Peters and not team president Jason Wright. Peters mentioned Williams specifically after the draft
Under former coach Ron Rivera, Williams was removed from the personnel department in 2020, a move Peters reversed.
Here’s a look at the new moves the Commanders announced on Tuesday.
