It’s the 2023-2024 off-season. The Washington Commanders have finished 6-11 and end up with the 7th overall pick.

Josh Harris has announced after an extensive search, you are announced as the new General Manager. Magic Johnson uses an AI program to make a matter of fact tweet about your hiring. Harris’ instructions are clear. Replace Ron Rivera’s coaching staff. Having sold out home games in Washington is paramount. There’s a New jersey being revealed in the off-season so keeping Terry and Allen are musts for huge sales.

You’ve got among the most cap space in the league and some real intriguing additional cuts that can be made to increase that.

You’ve got the 7th overall pick, 36th and 39th overall picks to focus on at the draft.

There’s a tremendous amount of pressure on your shoulders to grow the culture of Washington football and wipe away the bad taste of decades of ineptitude during the he-who-shall-not-be-named ownership era.

What’s your off-season plan?

  • 15GOATB
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    10 months ago
    1. Admit I don’t know anything other than how to scout draft prospects and for people not to get mad at me if I treat this like Madden

    2. Hire Ben Johnson at HC and let him fill out his staff that aren’t his old drinking buddies

    3. Sign Tyron Smith (LT), Kenny Moore (CB), Clelin Ferrell (DE), Austin Ekler (HB), Jeff Okudah (CB), Devin White (LB) to start out FA

    4. Draft Brock Bowers (TE), Sedrick Van Pran (OC), Cooper Beebe (OG), Kingsley Suamataia (OT), and Junior Colson (LB) with our top 100 picks

    5. Win the Super Bowl

    • Syphin33B
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      10 months ago

      I hate this Bowers pick at 7… absolutely hate it and i love Bowers.

      Esp since ive been watching this OL get made into swiss cheese for 2 years. Gonna watch another year where we have 3+ offensive weapons and a QB with zero time to throw the ball.

  • SweerBaby_Use1023B
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    10 months ago

    Hire Scot Pioli as President of Football Operations and tell him to have at it!

  • icepak39B
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    10 months ago
    • Hire Ben Johnson or Bob Slowik as HC; push the new HC to hire a creative DC
    • Pivot to Howell to push jersey sales
    • Trade Terry, Allen, Thomas, Leno, Wylie, Gates, Barton
    • Trade for and sign free agents to fill OL and LB (WR and CB would be too expensive for anyone decent)
    • Draft best player available in the first three rounds
    • Syphin33B
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      10 months ago

      Man i dunno if i can stomach a Terry trade… i really can’t.

      Unless he goes to a contender and he’s ok with it. That’s how much i love that guy, he’s the heart of this team.

  • WuPacalypseB
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    10 months ago

    Trade all of our picks for Tommy Devito apparently

  • down42roadsB
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    10 months ago

    Step 1: Everyone without a helmet is gone. Every coach, every assistant, etc.

    Step 2: You don’t need a scheme coach. This team isn’t a scheme away. You need a “right the ship” coach. You need a coach hired with the understanding that the team isn’t ready yet.

    In my mind, you want an older, experienced coach. Someone that has been around for a while, someone that has experienced ups and downs, both with his team and as a individual coach. Someone that can make the team understand they aren’t competing for the playoffs immediately without making it a negative.

    The three names that jump out at me:

    Steve Wilks (49ers DC, former Cardinals HC)

    Raheem Morris (Rams DC, former Bucs HC)

    Rich Bisaccia (Packers AHC/ST Coordinator, former interim Raiders coach)

    Each of them has the connections and respect to build a good staff.

    Let’s say you pick Wilks. You steal Klint Kubiak from the 49ers and go from there.

    Step 3: Examine the roster. Salary cap is fine, almosst 90M under the cap right now. So, is there anyone who just shouldn’t be there? Attitude, tied to the other coaching staff, etc. No one jumps out to me, so I’ll trust you guys. Basically, you have the cap space to do whatever, so I won’t go much in depth here.

    You need to bring some dudes back that are pending free agents. To me, the biggest names there are Reaves and Kurl.

    Then, you need to assess the roster plan. I would say that you are not going to get Maye or Williams at QB unless you repeat the RG3 trade, so plan on building around Howell and seeing if he can really be the dude.

    The offensive line needs to be rebuilt. Leno is solid, but he’s also entering his 11th season. Other than that, everyone else is inconsistent at best. Kick Wylie back inside to guard (where he is much better), add a RT, and add another body or two to the interior, and things will be much better. Add someone like Connor McGovern (Jets C) or Aaron Brewer (Titans C), who have both played C and G, and add a tackle in the draft.

    The defense needs some perimeter work. There are players at CB, EDGE and LB but no one stands out. You aren’t getting a star at any of those positions without paying $20M+, but you can add tier 2 free agents and have solid position groups.

    I ran a 7 round mock on PFN and this was the result.

    Olu Fashano is an elite OT prospect who will anchor the right side as a rookie and move to the LT for hopefully a decade when Leno’s deal is up after the season.

    Laitu is a top ten talent at EDGE who will likely fall due to medical concerns. He was forcibly retired for two years due to a spinal injury. On day two, you roll the shit out of those dice.

    Barton is the starting LT at Duke right now, but most draft analysts view him as a plug-and-play interior guy.

    Sanders is a athletic receiver of a TE, adding a safety valve for Howell.

  • guardiandown3885B
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    10 months ago

    You just hired me as the new GM and I can’t do what I want with the current roster?..if I’m the new GM then you’re trusting me to build the team…so you should be allowing me to do what I think is best with the roster and if that’s getting rid of Terry and Allen then so be it

  • ErigionB
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    10 months ago

    Can’t believe no one has mentioned this yet.

    Sign 3 LS for training camp. First bad snap from Cheeseman, he’s gone.

  • itakeyoureggsB
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    10 months ago

    I would have team built on toughness and through the trenches philosophy I would want some ex players in some positional coaching positions. I would probably try and hire Harbaugh/Slowvik/Johnson. Would definitely hear out EB. I want a coach that doesn’t believe so deeply in his scheme that they don’t adapt to the players on the roster. Would be drafting Oline high and looking for a LB that can be a leader and communicator on the D to cover the middle of the field.

  • reddit4neB
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    10 months ago
    1. Promote EB to Head Coach. Push him to hire an OCoordinator to help him with playcalling duties, someone he trusts. I think EB is pretty good at drawing up plays, his concepts are modern and good, but HC is a lot of responsibilty to have and I dont think its wise to expect EB to be able to handle all the new duites without some help.

    2. For D-coordinator, look at luring some college talent cause Im so sick of NFL retreads. First choice is Glenn Schumann out of Georgia, hes been instrumental in building that defensive juggernaut in GA. Second is Ferentz out of Iowa, knows how to run a traditional smash mouth defense well that can shutdown even highly talented offenses such as Michigan and OSU. Or Jim Knowles out of OSU, both of them. Built a creative and very good defense out of OSU that punched above its weight, and when he moved on to OSU he has transformed OSU’s defense from being an underachieving disappointment to being one of the nations best defenses. Schematically he has shown great flexibility, in adjusting his scheme to be a less risky scheme (though still aggressive) that was better suited for less-talented teams looking to confuse the opposition, to one that is still aggressive and disguises coverages well while being able to play more conservative football in areas where a talent advantage lies. For example, OSU D-line is a highly talented group, its secondary has talent but underachieves at times, nobody can run on them, and its LB unit leaves something to be desired. Sound familiar? No problem, Knowles figured out so far how to turn that into an elite shut down defense with a scheme that maximizes talent while minimizing deficincies.

    3. Draft Oline and LBs, sign anybody decent in FA to shore up those positions. Get more talent iat TE through draft and by FA, even if we have to slightly overpay in FA, as long as they are relatviely you.

    4. We’re good at Cb, thats enough of drafting CBs. But Look to replenish the Dline with some average level starters or some mid-round picks.

    5. Extend Howell 's contract as early as possible before it gets to be prohibitively high. Do the exact opposite of what we did with Kirk.

    • Jschlesi2000B
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      10 months ago

      EB can play call but his protection schemes scare me at times.

  • Syphin33B
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    10 months ago

    Draft Joe Alt with our 1st round pick… spend the Bears 2nd on a LB and then our other 2nd on a TE. Then go Edge.

    Go DB in FA to pair with our young secondary… is there any good edges that’ll be FA also?

    I know people were upset about the Sweat and Chase stuff but once April comes and we to practically draft at the end of the 1st we’re gonna be so happy because that bears pick is a literal 1st round pick pretty much. I am so fucking excited that we got picks 7/37/39/71/100 … boys ONE GOOD DRAFT could turn this club around so quickly. At least 3 huge impact players day 1

  • Solarbear1000B
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    10 months ago

    Promote EB. Help him hire a decent DC and OC.

    Draft Linemen and LB mostly. Try to bolster OL with a FA or two. Maybe One offensive weapon if it represents good value.

    Not a complex plan but an improvement across the lines would improve this team.

  • Jschlesi2000B
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    10 months ago

    I think harbaugh is coming here. But I think Flores is the better move.