ASHBURN, Va. (AP) — Minutes before leaving the team facility prior to the Washington Commanders’ first practice after cutdown day, general manager Adam Peters made one more trade.
While the move that sent depth defensive tackle John Ridgeway to New Orleans for a swap of late-round picks was far from earth-shattering, it removed yet another player from the roster who was a holdover from the previous regime overseen by Ron Rivera. When the dust settled, the initial 53-man roster included just 12 of the 33 draft picks from Rivera’s four years in charge, counted among the 16 total players his front office acquired from 2020-23 who are left.
Peters and new coach Dan Quinn downplayed so thoroughly cleaning house, a process that included cutting five of the seven members of the Rivera’s final draft class last year, but the roster turnover of nearly 60% speaks volumes about making wholesale changes.
“We’re trying to win,” Peters said Wednesday. “We’re recalibrating. We’re trying to build for the long term and win championships year in and year out, but we’re also trying to win right now.”
They would like to win more than the four games the Commanders did last season, clinching the second pick in the draft, sealing Rivera’s firing and paving the way for new ownership to put its stamp on the organization. What followed were the hires of Peters, then Quinn, then offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury and the drafting of Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback Jayden Daniels to build around as the new face of the franchise.
Only three players without existing contracts were brought back.
“It’s almost like being on a new team, really,” said safety Jeremy Reaves, a 2022 All-Pro special teams player who was one of those three re-signed. “When we got new ownership, it was bound to happen. Change is inevitable. When you want to be great, you have to adapt. And this building, this locker room, everything has changed. It’s different guys, it’s different energy, it’s a different atmosphere — it’s everything.”
A vast majority of the cornerstone players remaining, including top receiver Terry McLaurin and defensive tackles Jonathan Allen and Daron Payne, were brought in between 2017-19 by former executive Bruce Allen and coach Jay Gruden.
Quinn called it a matter of finding players who better fit his scheme.
“We’re always going to make what we think is the best decision for the team,” he said Tuesday on a conference call with reporters. “There’s no ‘ours’ or ‘theirs,’ or any of that kind of good stuff. Once I was here, man, I connected with lots of players here. So yeah, no looking at it at anything other than just what do we need to do best for the team and really that’s where it starts and ends.”
Starting from nearly scratch — only 22 players on the active roster are back from last season — was an unique opportunity for Peters, a former assistant GM in San Francisco who traces his roots back to New England, where his first Patriots personnel manual read, “We’re not collecting talent, we’re building a team.”
The team he built was one that almost entirely left Washington’s recent past behind, even while praising McLaurin, Allen, Payne, running back Brian Robinson Jr. and offensive lineman Sam Cosmi by name for embracing this whirlwind of change.
“It’s good for me to have a fresh set of eyes, but it’s good for the players that were here to have us having a fresh set of eyes on them and evaluate them for what we see,” Peters said.
Quinn has talked about the team as a 70-man roster, counting the practice squad, and Peters pointed out that the initial practice squad includes the return of some 2023 draft picks and undrafted free agents.
More could still change before opening the season Sept. 8 at Tampa Bay, just as trading Ridgeway to the Saints showed. And those now in charge in Washington have no longstanding connections to high draft picks of the recent past — evidenced by trading ’22 first-round pick Jahan Dotson and a fifth-round pick to Philadelphia for a third-rounder and two sevenths.
“We got some good value for Jahan,” Peters said.
Just as it did with Rivera, time will judge how much success Peters, Quinn and this group have evaluating talent and turning it into victories. For now, they are satisfied with the group on the field they head into the season with.
“As hard as the last couple days are, there’s also a sense of excitement to see this puzzle together and clear it and go,” Quinn said. “It’s cool to see this puzzle come to life and see how it all fits together.”
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