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Wow, that was a dumb move on special teams.

13 minutes ago, profusion said:

 

Obviously, the drafting has to improve no matter what. You don't generally get your franchise LT after the first round, but the other positions typically get drafted after the first. Between the draft and all that cap room, I expect the OL to be significantly better next year. That's where I'd put some of my FA emphasis.

If the team uses the first-round pick on a QB, it may take the two second-round picks to move up for a premier LT (if available).  Assets dwindle quickly!  

On the bright side, other teams will not have a clue who we will pick on draft day.  Keep them guessing.  In the dark night one tiny firefly.....

19 hours ago, Darrell Green Fan said:

This is my best guess as of right now:

 

1.  Bears take Williams

2.  Pats take Maye

3.  Cards take Harrison

 

Now what to the Commanders do at 4 this is where it will get interesting.  If they roll with Sam and trade out of the pick and acquire additional picks in a deep draft while obtaining a 1st in 2025, which is my preference. If they do not believe in Howell, or believe they can do a lot better, then Daniels will be the selection.  

Some team may leap frog the Commanders and take a different player than projected but I like your logic.  I prefer the trade down scenario once we know which players are likely to be available in the first round in this draft.  A first round next year would give me a lot of confidence that they are thinking long term.  The extra future first could be used in a trade down next year to the second round. Use the existing future second as trade for the subsequent years' first.  Keep building draft capital.  Fingers crossed that they choose players wisely.

3 hours ago, Warhead36 said:

I don't like trading down for the sake of trading down and passing up on blue chip talent. But if we get some crazy offer and there are no legit blue chippers at our spot then sure. But at the 4th overall pick, there will definitely be some elite talent we'd be passing up on.

 

Quality > quantity. We need legit game breaking star power talent.

I wouldn't trade down to the second round but there is blue chip talent outside the top 5 in most first round drafts.  Dropping from 4 to 7 could net an additional 2nd round pick (low) or high 3rd round pick.  You drop a couple spots and get a "free" Guard or Right Tackle.  It all depends on the positional depth in the 2024 draft and we won't know that for a while. 

1 hour ago, The Consigliere said:

we really need to nail down what we think Howell is long term, before we make such a decision, because if his ceiling is 10th-15th, and the expectation is 15th-20th, that wont be good enough, quality OL or not. He needs to be a guy where the expectation is league average or a little above, and the ceiling is even better, if it aint, it doesn't matter what OL we roll out.  

If your QB is being hit, hurried, and sacked repeatedly all season long, how do you really know his potential to that level of specificity?  

28 minutes ago, IrepDC said:

Technically or literally that many sacks is also a failure by an OL room. The tape backs it up. 

 

If the Commanders convince themselves it's actually the WRs, QB, TEs, defense etc. that should be a priority, I won't be surprised. You have holes at both Edges, LB, CB, and possibly S on defense; and the big boys don't just have guys, they have depth; so the Commanders have a lot of work to do on team building.

 

I am simply stating my personal opinion. I would follow Green Bay's approach when they neglected rooms on their roster, and go heavy handed to turn that room into a room with tons of youth and depth. Especially when there were drafts with extra talent in those positions. The Commanders don't have to follow that attack plan when it's right there for them to do. Who will be the GM is the question.

The team needs a major re-do.  The roster isn't stronger after 4 years of Rivera - just different problem areas.  I hope that the new GM puts a major emphasis on making a young QB's job easier (whether Howell remains the starter or we have a new QB):  Better OL, new TE, 3rd down back to complement B Rob and Rodriguez, rework the WR group to add a variety of talent etc.  Go heavy handed on the Offense even at the complete lack of investment in the Defense.  I would rather keep Howell upright and give up 30 points a game than to have a mediocre offense and mediocre defense.  We will pick high in year 2 - we can be patient with a good GM - we already endured twenty years of false hope and bad FOs.  I'd consider trade down opportunities to accumulate an additional 2nd or 3rd round pick and again invest in the Offense where appropriate.  Within reason, of course! 

6 hours ago, method man said:

A reason the Dolphins are so good is because of the treasure trove of first rounders they got from the 9ers as they moved up to take Lance. If we can get to #3 or #4, hopefully a similar opportunity will be there

Didn't Miami also trade a stud LT to the Texans?  As I recall, Miami traded all of their good players away for draft picks and rebuilt the team from ground up.  A couple of totally awful years and they were set for the long term

Are we back to winning off the field?

Josh Harris said we might have to take a step back before we move forward.  Ha!  We are already in the very back!

Seriously, Howell will be on this team either as the starter or backup.  There are a few other keepers on cheap contracts.  We might be better off trading the few "stars" for draft capital.  At least, we should be mentally prepared for some of those type of changes

On 11/29/2023 at 9:44 PM, RVAskins said:

I could never condone murder. Even for a good ham steak.

Not even for bacon???

5 minutes ago, samy316 said:

I don’t give a damn about anyone on this team, save for Allen, Payne, Curl, McLaurin, Dotson, Robinson and Howell.  The only thing I care about between now and the end of the season is Howell’s development. This season changed to evaluation mode the moment we lost to the Giants at home last week.  This season is over from a competitive standpoint.

I want a GM to establish a DC version of the Eagles, Ravens, or Steelers.  Not their teams but a system that produces perennial competitive play.  The coach matters but the foundation is the GM and scouts.  The players and play calling are the fruits of the GM's labors.  I will be sad to see Allen, Payne, Curl, McLaurin, Dotson, Robinson, or Howell go.  But, if they don't fit OR their contracts don't make sense for the building process, then I will be happy that the GM makes the right decision.

9 hours ago, El Mexican said:

Marty cleaned house with the roster he received from the previous coach and he actually showed good advances in the final third of the season.

Sadly El Dano put the kibosh on that before any fruits were reaped. Weird times.

 

But the Marty example does show you a franchise can dramatically improve from one season to the next if the owner selects a good GM.

It was Marty ball or nothing. Run run run and the occassional long pass. Stout defense. A winning formula even in today's NFL, IMO.

Marty knew what he was doing - he had to clean out the bad contracts and find out which players were going to carry the lunch pail every day.  After one year, he had created cap space and acquired draft picks.  But the owner fan was bored with the process, so he fired Marty.  We never got to see whether the team would have developed into a long-term winner IF Marty had been able to deploy the money and draft picks appropriately.  It's a cautionary tale for fans today.  Fixing a poorly designed roster may require changes that fans don't like and result in a season with few wins.

As you said, getting a good GM with good vision is the key to changing this team for the better.  All of the talk of potential coaches or preferred draft choices is premature.    

A new GM may conclude that with a few more players in the right positions our ceiling is still 9-7.  That really sucks after four years of Rivera team-building.  The best that Rivera can do now is to show that some of these defensive players are actually worth keeping for the future.  Otherwise, it makes sense to dump your stars for draft picks because the team will not benefit long-term from keeping them on the roster.  We only have 2 DTs and a WR with significant trade value.  Shottenheimer did a major reset and it's possible a good GM would take the same approach. Oh, the woe.  I'd respect that approach much more than the delusion that the roster is just a few pieces away from being competitive.    

Moving chairs around while the Titanic is sinking

13 hours ago, mhd24 said:

 With our cap space, we're going to have to spend. 

We might have some dead cap money if the team moves on from a few players

22 hours ago, Rufus T Firefly said:

So, question then- Are you planning to re=sign a 31 year old McLaurin for the big money that will require in two years?

Those are the type of questions that you need a good GM to ask.  Fans have their emotions into the game and into the roster.  A GM should generally avoid making emotional decisions.  IMO, the team should not be using top draft capital on a WR given the poor overall structure of the roster.      

Quality free agent linemen are usually expensive.  I agree on LT being a priority for the first round pick.  I don't want the GM to reach though.  If there are a group of 3-4 OTs available I'd be happy with a trade down of just a few spots to acquire another 3rd.  

15 minutes ago, DJHJR86 said:

 

It's not unfair to say he was bad yesterday.  He was terrible.  There were at least two other passes that should have been interceptions yesterday.  

And yet, the game came down to just two final plays.  The false start that screwed the offense out of options followed by the interception that sealed the game (and Howell isn't really to blame because he was hit while throwing). Eliminate the false start and the final analysis of Howell might have been different.  Howell would have been touted as a hero if he had gotten a TD.  Heck, he would be a hero even if got them into position for the TD and a WR dropped the pass, or a DB make a good play on the ball.   

Rookie QBs are going to play poorly, at times, during their first year.  You have to take your lumps.  

We know that the OL sucks and most acknowledge that OL performance determines games.  Despite that, fans put the blame on Howell.  The WRs think he's capable and Leno will fight anyone he thinks has taken a cheap shot on Howell.  So what do they know that we don't?

doesn't matter.  The last false start sealed the deal.  The team will be picking higher.....yay.  Ugh

1 hour ago, formerly4skins said:

 

I think Forbes small stature would probably make him at FS a non-starter. You need to have guys in those Safety spots who are capable of ending the play with contact when it gets to them. 

To be fair to Forbes, he is a good tackler.  I wouldn't have him play SS but I thought he might be good on the deep routes with his eyes to the QB.  I just don't want him one-on-one with bigger WRs anymore. Let him play to his strengths.   

2 minutes ago, MartinC said:

The good news is there are at least 4 OTs that will go first round and be a day one starter for us. We need to see where we are picking before we start speculating about who may or may not be there.

 

I would be reluctant to trade up. We need every pick we have. 

Even when we have a choice of 4, there are never any guarantees that a team will chose the "best" one or that the player won't suffer an injury.  I hope the GM has a policy of keeping picks (and acquiring more) except under very special circumstances.  

41 minutes ago, Stoox said:

 

And Raheem Morris and Bobby Slowik too.

And Redskins fans hated the entire lot of them.  

26 minutes ago, MrJL said:

I like Forrest overall

 

As for draft picks, I hope to see some maneuvering.  I can see us with more than one first rounder

I hope that by the end of the season we, or more importantly the GM, has a clear sense for the future roles of Quan Martin and Emmanuel Forbes.  Will Martin develop if he works exclusively at SS?  Is Forbes viable as a CB and, if not, is a he a potential fit at FS?

A second first round pick could be a possibility if they trade down from the first and use the ammo to move up from the second.  But, I'd prefer to just use the trade down compensation for another player (likely in 3rd round).  It's way too early now -- definitely like the idea of a proactive GM versus what we've had in the past.  

1 hour ago, Est.1974 said:

I wouldn’t discount the possibility that we trade one or both of these on the offseason once we’ve cleaned front of house. I reckon we could look to accumulate more draft resource to completely stack up on offense.

It would make sense to trade one of them if the GM decides that keeping two expensive DTs was a misallocation of resources.  The extra pick may need to be used on the defense.  All those prior picks for the defense are a sunk cost. Mathis is rarely available so there will likely be a need for a DT in addition to a DE, LB, and perhaps a CB.