Adam Peters is not omniscient, but he does know what he is doing.
No, the Commanders still haven’t signed that edge pass rusher they really want to sign.
Yes, two veteran edge rushers were available last weekend, and it seemed Peters would certainly sign one of them. But what was harder to swallow was that not only did Peters not get either one of them, but the Eagles signed both Azeez Ojulari and Joshua Uche.
Ojulari is only 24 and tall at 6-foot-3 and 240 pounds, while Uche is only 26 and 6-foot-1 and 240 pounds. It was frustrating to see the Eagles target and get both over Peters.
There have also been other factors. For one thing, with the NFL continually raising the salary cap over the last few years, more teams have been enabled to sign their own players before they can hit the open market as free agents. This season, a large percentage of the bigger-name players, Ronnie Stanley and Khalil Mack, for example, re-signed with their own team.
Consequently, before we get all over Peters, let’s remind ourselves that free agency wasn’t as big a deal this year because so many players re-signed. In addition, Peters did go out and make two trades that certainly appear to make the Commanders better on the offensive line and at receiver (Laremy Tunsil and Deebo Samuel). These are two proven impact players that have been added for 2025.
Peters did not foolishly spend and commit to two- and three-year contracts with lesser players in free agency. He stuck to his principles of primarily using the one-year deal to obtain motivated players.
So, let’s not overreact with a disappointment (edge pass rusher) and unfairly accuse Peters of being a failure or inept general manager. There are many more options in evaluating Peters than a simplistic person’s “success or failure.” Peters had an absolutely tremendous offseason in 2024, and though he has not gotten the edge pass rusher he desired, he has been somewhat successful in adding some more size to his defensive line that was run all over in 2024.
Finally, even in the one contract we are all questioning (Javon Kinlaw), though it is a three-year deal, the guaranteed money is all in the first two years. Thus, Peters can get out of it after two years if he so desires.
So, keep things in their proper perspective. The Washington Commanders general manager from 2020-2023 was Ron Rivera, and now it is Adam Peters.
