Expectations for the Adam Peters Era
January 16, 2024
by Steve Thomas
On Monday, Washington officially announced that new owner Josh Harris hired Adam Peters to serve as Washington’s new General Manager. This means that he will oversee Washington’s football operations, which is separate and distinct from the business side of operations, currently and unfortunately run by Jason Wright. Washington has obviously had various, crazy management structure and leadership for decades, thanks to former owner Dan Snyder, but Peters is the first step back into the world of legitimate, non-embarrassing NFL football. For me, Peters was always the first choice, so I’m excited for the team’s future during his tenure.
Peters’ football-playing background is meager by NFL standards; he was a reserve defensive end at UCLA before graduating in 2002. Peters was immediately brought into the NFL, however, when he was hired by the New England Patriots as a scout in 2003. Peters stayed with the Patriots until 2008, when he followed Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels to Denver when McDaniels became the Broncos’ head coach. Denver promoted him to the assistant director of college scouting position in 2014, then Director in 2016. John Lynch then hired him to be the 49ers vice president of college scouting the following year, then promoted him to assistant general manager in 2021.
Lynch and Peters slowly built San Francisco into a Super Bowl contender, going from last place in the NFC West in 2017 to a Super Bowl loss in 2019, and winning the division in both 2022 and 2023. During these years, San Francisco drafted several elite Pro Bowlers, including tight end George Kittle, linebacker Fred Warner, defensive end Nick Bosa, wide receiver Deebo Samuel, safety Talanoa Hufanga, and former 2022 Mr. Irrelevant, quarterback Brock Purdy. That’s an outstanding draft history, one that puts Washington’s efforts to shame.
However, it wouldn’t be honest to not also mention one of the bigger busts in recent memory, Trey Lance, drafted with the third overall pick in 2021. San Francisco traded first round picks in 2021, 2022, and 2023, plus their 2022 third round pick, to Miami to move up from 12 to draft Lance. At the time (click here to read), I rated Lance as “a 2nd or 3rd round developmental prospect” and said that Lance was “a huge risk as a round 1 prospect”. Some others, but not all, shared that view as well. Trading a ton of assets to move up to draft Lance was a colossal mistake. However, was Peters responsible for that move? Evidence alleviates Peters of at least some responsibility: a column on 49ers.com (click here to read) claims that only four people, Lynch, head coach Kyle Shanahan, owner Jed York, and co-chairman John York, knew about the 49ers plan to draft Lance until moments before the call to Lance was made during the draft. However, as the assistant general manager, Peters needs to share some blame too, at least on some level, since he and his staff evaluated Lance and presumably gave him high marks. It was one bust, albeit one of the biggest in NFL history.
Still, though, despite Lance, Peters arrives in Washington with a nearly impeccable reputation and fans should justifiably be excited about the future. Let’s discuss some expectations for the Peters era of Washington football.
Establish a winning culture
This is the most important concept that was missing from the Washington franchise during Snyder’s reign. In sports, long-term winning always starts at the top. Peters needs to make it known immediately that winning is the only acceptable result, and hire serious professionals who all have that goal at the top of mind. I’m not necessarily set on a head coach with a particular system; nearly any reasonable NFL-level offensive and defensive system can win in the league given the right players and coaches being in place. Peters need to emphasize this to both the team and the fans alike. No more nonsense in the front office; winning matters. That’s what I look for from Peters in this regard. Specifically, this means that he needs to hire people from quality organizations who can bring this same attitude to Washingtono. It isn’t just about attitude, though. Peters needs to bring in the top evaluative talent. In the past, Washington has had to overpay at every level in order to convince people to join this organization. Those days may mercifully be over now, given Peters’ outstanding reputation.
Hire the right head coach
As I said above, the right coach doesn’t necessarily mean a specific system. In my view, the best coaches are those who can adapt to the skills of their players. Coaches who are stuck on one particular system and insist on cramming the players they have into it may win for awhile, but they tend to not be able to keep it up on a long term basis. The best coaches inherently understand their roster and can put the team as a whole in a position to succeed. Washington’s best coach ever, Joe Gibbs, is the best example of this type of coach. Gibbs famously won three Super Bowls with three different quarterbacks, and at times had both running and passing teams on offense, with a multitude of different capabilities on his defenses. To me, finding a coach like this means that Peters should look at up and coming assistant coaches, not retreads who’ve previously been head coaches. Lions’ offensive coordinator Ben Johnson, who fits well into this category, seems to be the leading contender right now, but there are others. The bottom line is, no retreads. This team is starting anew here, and that means a new coach.
Find the quarterback now, in year one
I’m sorry to break it to everyone, but Sam Howell isn’t going to be the answer to Washington’s quarterback dilemma. Peters needs to make drafting a quarterback with Washington’s second overall pick a certainty. Washington’s brand new, young GM needs to pair his brand new, young coach with a brand new, young quarterback to bring the team into the future. Enough said.
Draft with a plan
One of Ron Rivera’s biggest sins was his terrible draft record. Rivera did two things wrong in this area: he consistently overdrafted players, and didn’t pay attention to team needs. This resulted in a roster with certain position groups severely lacking in talent, and other groups packed with high draft picks who failed to perform. Peters needs to focus on finding elite talent evaluators, then arranging his draft board to properly account for both long and short term roster needs. Rivera went to great lengths to ignore glaring, obvious team needs in favor of draft picks that made little sense. Less of that, and more of an actual plan, please.
Use free agency to fill in gaps
One thing for which Dan Snyder, and by extension, the team, was signing a slew of big-name, overly expensive free agents with the hope that this player would somehow turn around the fortunes of the team, or at least bring attention to the franchise. High-end players like that tend to work best on teams that are already established. My hope is that Peters needs to set a tone wherein free agency only serves to add to an already properly-structured roster.
I think Washington’s hiring of Adam Peters is a great move that is going to work out for the better. What do you think? Let me know in the comment section below.