It is no secret the Washington Commanders are going for a complete renovation this offseason.
There will be many players released and not invited back for 2024. There will be a new draft class and several new free agents signed to join the Commanders.
Josh Harris is going to hire the franchise’s next general manager any day now. Whomever he is, he will become the first Washington general manager to possess authentic general manager power since Charley Casserly was Washington’s general manager (1989-99).
Then Harris and the new general manager will embark on hiring the team’s next head coach. He will follow Ron Rivera, who failed to achieve a single winning season in his four seasons as Commanders’ head coach.
Quick question: which is most important, your general manager, your head coach, or your starting quarterback? Before you reply, consider the answer might just be “yes.” As important as a general manager and head coach are, today’s NFL might also require you to have a winning quarterback as well.
Which makes the accomplishment of Joe Jackson Gibbs even more significant. Gibbs won three Super Bowl championships for the Burgundy and Gold, and his quarterbacks for those championship seasons were Joe Theismann, Doug Williams and Mark Rypien. Three guys who will never be in the Hall of Fame, and only one was an NFL-leading quarterback (Theismann in 1983), and that team did not win a Super Bowl, though they did play in Super Bowl XVIII, falling to the Raiders.
An NFL team’s starting quarterback can mean so much to your franchise. For instance, the last time Washington had a winning season, Kirk Cousins was the starter. Washington’s last two winning seasons 2015 (9-7) and 2016 (8-7-1), it was Cousins leading the team.
Cousins was criticized heavily by much of the fan base in those days. Yet, how many winning seasons has Washington achieved since Cousins’ departure? Not a single one.
The Commanders will need to land a quality quarterback this offseason as well.