In a wide-ranging interview with Scott Abraham of WJLA ABC 7News Wednesday, Washington head coach Ron Rivera stated he would not be present at the Reese’s Senior Bowl.
This came as a surprise to some with Washington’s dire need at quarterback, and five of the top NFL draft prospects present in Mobile, Alabama, for Senior Bowl week.
Relax.
Rivera has his handpicked front office, which includes general manager Martin Mayhew, Marty Hurney, Eric Stokes and Chris Polian, so Washington will be heavily represented in Mobile. Offensive coordinator Scott Turner and quarterbacks coach Ken Zampese will also likely be present.
There’s really nothing for Rivera to do at the Senior Bowl. He will be able to watch film of the practices and watch the game. Washington’s front office did plenty of leg work on each of the top college quarterbacks throughout the 2021 college football season. Washington knows what these passers can do on the field; now, it’s about seeing them against other draft-eligible players, working with an NFL coaching staff.
“We are going to go down to the Senior Bowl, and when I say we, our scouting department will be down there, and specific coaches will be down there,” Rivera said.
That led to Abraham asking Rivera if he was attending:
“No,” Rivera replied. He explained further.
When I’m going to do something, I’m going to try to do it as private as possible and away from everybody. I don’t need distractions. I want to be able to focus in on specific guys. There’s a lot of things that we need to do, and right now, this is all about information gathering. You go someplace where everyone else is, and your conversations are going to be guarded. Their answers are going to be guarded. So, I don’t want to miss the opportunity when I’m sitting down with these guys; I want candidness, I want as open as possible. We went through this at one point in 2011, when I was in Carolina, and the approach we took was everything we did with those candidates that were coming out was just us. We were the entire focus of his attention, and he was the entire focus of our attention.
Rivera’s answer leads me to believe he is working furiously behind the scenes to land a veteran quarterback while his staff continues its work on the college passers. After the Senior Bowl, Rivera will convene with his front office and coaches and finalize their plan to attack the quarterback position.
The head coach will still have plenty of opportunities to sit down with the draft-eligible passers. First, you have the NFL scouting combine, and then you have select visits, where prospects can visit Washington’s team headquarters.
I wouldn’t worry too much about Rivera not attending the Senior Bowl.
