The Washington Commanders are in an exciting time in the franchise where fans have been let down time and time again under former owner Dan Snyder, who will go down in the history as one of the worst owners in the history of sports.
The Commanders have a new owner, general manager and have assembled an impressive coaching staff that his spear-headed by Dan Quinn, but includes former NFL head coaches Kliff Kingsbury (offensive coordinator) and Anthony Lynn (running backs) as well as several respected names within football circles.
With a roster that has some talent, particularly at running back, receiver and on the defensive line, the Washington Commanders were viewed as one of the top destinations for head coach and GM into this offseason.
Beyond some of the in-house talent that wasn’t maximized under Ron RIvera’s tenure, the Commanders own the No. 2 pick in the NFL Draft and have several picks within the first three rounds due to their midseason trades of pass rushers Montez Sweat and Chase Young. With the increased salary cap that was released by the NFL last week, Washington leads the entire league with over $79 million in available funds.
That will allow new GM Adam Peters and the Commanders brass to acquire critical pieces through free agency to give this team a chance to thrive sooner rather than later. With almost everyone in consensus that Washington will select one of the top quarterbacks with the No. 2 overall pick in a class loaded with the most talent at the position in recent history according to most experts, expect Washington to target offensive linemen and possibly a few skill players to set the new rookie signal caller up for as much success as possible.
New Washington Commanders GM Adam Peters Revels Shocking Free Agency Strategy With Most Cap Space In NFL
Commanders GM Adam Peters was very clear in multiple answers to questions when DC sports radio hosts Grant & Danny of 106.7 The Fan posed when he joined the guys from the NFL Scouting Combine on Tuesday.
When asked about what Peters has been up to since taking the job, he revealed the rough plan for the team and building a new culture and identify to build a winning team on the field.
We just finished up some great meetings with the staff, looking to identify the types of players we want, so we have a great vision of what we’re looking for heading into (the offseason),” Peters said. “We’re building that synergy and collaboration throughout the building.
The Washington Commanders have the most cap space of any team in the NFL so there’s a sentiment Peters and company will clean house and go on a spending frenzy to reload the roster in free agency.
Peters said it verbatim that ‘we will always be a build through the draft team,’ so ‘it won’t be a big spending spree’ in free agency.
There are a lot of holes we need to fill, but we will always build through the draft and supplement through free agency,” Peters said. “This year, it won’t be a big spending spree; we’re not going to go out and blow all that money in year one. We’re going to build a competitive team with the right types of guys, then have a great draft after that. We will find the types of players we want to build our team, supplement them with people that can really make us very competitive this year, and then draft really well to build competitive team.”
Adam Peters has said that the Washington Commanders were unlikely to use the franchise tag, something he told G&D was “a year-to-year decision depending on who you have coming free and where you value them,” but even with close to $80 million in cap space, some of the guys they want to bring back just may not be in the cards as part of that non-spree.
Peters emphasized there’s a lot of talent on the roster currently, both under contract and pending free agents.
“One of the big parts of this week is meeting with agents for all our free agents, and we’re open to bringing a lot of guys back, depending on how everyone fits into the big puzzle,” Peters said. “There are some players we’d like to bring back, and maybe some we can’t for whatever reason.“