At his introductory press conference on Tuesday, new Commanders GM Adam Peters was asked a direct question: “I wonder what you think of the current roster?”
Peters gave his reply, and those listening closely should have discerned this guy was not giving some ‘Pollyanna’ response on his first day before the home-team media.
“I believe there’s a few cornerstone pieces in this roster. I believe we have a lot of work to do. And that’s just evaluating everybody, and that’s going to start with the coaches when the coaches come in.”
“We will hire a head coach and sit down with the personnel department, evaluate everything and figure out where we need to be. That’s an on-going process I’ve started a little bit. But we have a lot of work to do.”
Did you catch what he said? He did not say there are “many” significant players on the roster. Nor did he say “several”. He used the description “few.” It was followed immediately by “I believe we have a lot of work to do,” and he also closed that response with, “But we have a lot of work to do.”
Bookends, in his response, pointed to the fact that the Commanders have a lot of work to do with their roster. Not merely in general but in the context of their roster. And Peters is altogether correct.
Ron Rivera was the head coach and head of personnel decisions regarding the draft. Rivera’s four first-round draft choices were Chase Young (2020), Jamin Davis (2021), Jahan Dotson (2022) and Emmanuel Forbes (2023).
Doesn’t that speak volumes? With Tua Tagovailoa and Justin Herbert available, Rivera wanted Young in 2020. Then, the last three first-round choices were all reaches, being selected earlier than projected.
Not a single player of Rivera’s four first-round choices has proven they were worthy of a first-round choice. It may be that they will, but for now, they clearly have not.
Peters was absolutely correct and direct concerning the current roster.
He does have a lot of work to do.
