After unexpectedly making the NFC Championship game last year, the Washington Commanders' rebuild is ahead of schedule. Adam Peters understands the opportunity he has to strive for a Super Bowl while franchise quarterback Jayden Daniels is still on his rookie deal.
Throughout his tenure as San Francisco 49ers assistant general manager, the team put a major focus on building through the draft. After having only five draft picks in 2020, the team had eight the following year and nine in both 2022 and 2023.
Washington has only five draft picks currently in 2025 after trading away picks for Marshon Lattimore, Deebo Samuel Sr., and Laremy Tunsil. Currently, the Commanders have a roster with the oldest average age in the NFL and is second-to-last in the league in "homegrown talent", just ahead of the Carolina Panthers, per Pro Football Network.
Over the last four Super Bowls, the winning team has had a roster among the top 10 youngest in the league. Outside of the 2024 Philadelphia Eagles, the other three winning teams over the last four years have also been top 10 in the number of Day 2 draft picks on the roster.
The Commanders will have to buck (pun intended) that recent trend if they want to be Super Bowl champions this season. This is something the Tampa Bay Buccaneers accomplished not so long ago with the third-oldest roster in the league.
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Getting a franchise quarterback changes everything. Just look at how Daniels elevated what was a subpar roster in 2024. The reason that the Commanders have some of the least homegrown talent in the league is a direct correlation to just how poorly the Ron Rivera-led regime drafted.
From over-drafting Jamin Davis when many fans were hoping to select Christian Darrisaw to selecting Emmanuel Forbes Jr. one spot ahead of Christian Gonzalez, the draft mistakes over the last 4-to-5 years compounded for Washington.
On the current Commanders roster, only Terry McLaurin remains from the 2019 draft and nobody remains from 2020. That's one player out of 18 picks. Astonishing, and not in a good way.
The results didn't get much better from there. From the 2021 draft, Davis was cut. Benjamin St Juste, Dyami Brown, and Darrick Forrest were not re-signed. The 2022 and 2023 drafts did provide some contributors for Washington but were low on impact makers outside of Brian Robinson Jr.
Juxtapose that with the Kansas City Chiefs, who ranked No. 1 in Day 2 pick rankings in 2019 and again in 2022, and you understand why one team became a perennial contender while the other was more of a bottom feeder. The defending AFC Conference champions have had major success finding starters on Day 2 of the draft, including Chris Jones, Derrick Nnadi, Kareem Hunt, Willie Gay Jr., Nick Bolton, Creed Humphrey, Bryan Cook, Leo Chanel, and Rashee Rice.
The year before Tom Brady joined the Buccaneers, the team had gone 7-9 in Bruce Arians' first year. But, as we mentioned before, having a franchise quarterback can elevate your franchise.
Along with Brady, the Buccaneers brought in other key veterans including Rob Gronkowski, Antonio Brown, LeSean McCoy, and Leonard Fournette. They also re-signed Ndamukong Suh to a one-year deal and tagged Shaquil Barrett, both of whom had joined the franchise in 2019.
Jason Pierre-Paul, who the team traded for in 2018, was also re-signed to a two-year deal before the Super Bowl-winning season. He would go on to make the Pro Bowl.
With the quarterback question answered, the Commanders look to be duplicating this formula by re-signing key veterans from last year's team. These include Bobby Wagner, Zach Ertz, and Marcus Mariota.
Similar to what the Buccaneers did in getting players whose value had taken a hit, the Commanders went and got older veterans including Lattimore, Samuel, and Tunsil, who should be key pieces on the 2025 roster. Free agent additions, Will Harris and Jonathan Jones are also on the older side at 29 and 31 years old, respectively.
Washington also bet high on Javon Kinlaw, who overlapped with Peters on the Niners. Despite many calling his contract an overpay, the front-office leader believes with the right opportunity, his best football is in front of him. If he has a similar breakout to what Barrett did after joining Tampa Bay, in a move that also received mediocre grading at the time, nobody would be upset.
It wouldn't be the first time Washington won a Super Bowl with an aging roster either. The 1991 squad had one of the highest average ages of a championship team in NFL history. Regardless, it will be interesting to see what Peters can cook up in his second full year with roster control.