Former Minnesota Vikings general manager Rick Spielman is enjoying serving the Washington Commanders in their two key searches.
Spielman joined the Vikings in 2006 and, for the next 17 seasons, worked in the front office, first in player personnel manager and then as the general manager.
Yet, Spielman is still taking the posture of learning from others’ NFL experiences and knowledge while helping the Commanders in last week’s search for Adam Peters as GM and now their head-coaching search.
Spielman spoke with Ryan Wilson of CBS Sports Wednesday and wanted to set the record straight from the beginning that he (Spielman) is not going to be involved in any player personnel evaluations for Adam Peters and the Commanders.
The brother of former Detroit Lions linebacker Chris Spielman assured Wilson he is not doing any work with Peters and the Commanders on the direction they are going to go in April’s NFL draft.
Josh Harris was the object of Spielman’s praise, expressing that Harris was the right guy to own the Commanders franchise at this time. He referred to Harris’s approach in interviewing the general manager candidates as “diligent” and also “detailed.”
“I was excited because interviewing all the five candidates that came through, they were all more than qualified. I believe all of them are going to be a GM here in the near future.”
Spielman offered that he learned much during the process as well. He learned something about how teams run their draft process, analytics, and sports science. “As much as I was trying to interview them I actually was really fascinated by the way the NFL has changed in the last five or six years.”
He also offered that through the interviews and listening and interacting with the candidates, he could see how each of them had already been successful.
Here is the video of the entire dialog between Wilson and Spielman.
