Ralph Vacchiano
NFC East Reporter
In theory, the Washington Commanders could have outbid any team in the NFL for any free agent on the market. With more than $90 million in salary cap space to burn, they could have signed two or three of the highest-priced, biggest-name free agents in the league.
That had to be tempting for a new owner who is determined to make a strong first impression on a long-disillusioned fan base. Josh Harris didn’t become a billionaire by simply being patient and waiting for things to happen. And now he had a perfect opportunity to start his tenure with a splash.
So what did the Commanders do instead? They handed their biggest deal of free agency to … defensive end Dorance Armstrong? Then they landed a center rated by Pro Football Focus as the fifth best on the market, a guard who started 13 games in the last five seasons, a safety who spent parts of the last two years on injured reserve, a 33-year-old tight end who has played in just 17 games the last two seasons, a 34-year-old linebacker and a 29-year-old running back who’s production declined alarmingly last year.
That’s not the splash that many of Harris’ new fans were expecting. But for a team with a new general manager and head coach and staring at a years-long rebuilding process, it was exactly the right thing to do.
Because while that might seem like an inauspicious debut for the new Washington regime, the truth is they’re doing what smart teams do — especially at this stage of their growing process. They didn’t need one or two big splashs as much as they needed a bunch of little ones. They essentially have to completely refill their own pool — as in a near total rebuild of their crumbling roster. New GM Adam Peters and coach Dan Quinn are starting from scratch, building a team in their own image.
And for a change, the spending in Washington isn’t irresponsible. So far, through the first few days of the offseason, the…
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Publish date : 2024-03-14 20:08:30
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