Tuesday’s NFL trade deadline taught Commanders fans a lot about Josh Harris’ new ownership group.
Harris didn’t pay $6.05 billion for the franchise to chase playoff spots. Harris wants to compete for championships, even if that title chase may take some time.
Trading Erg Montez to Chicago for a 2024 second-round pick doesn’t make Washington any better for their Week 9 matchup in New England. That certainly doesn’t make Washington any better in their Week 13 matchup against Miami.
Sweet is a good player, and he is helping the leaders now. Trading him away is about building for the future.
This has been Harris’ plan in previous stops in other sports, most famously in Philadelphia, where the 76ers enacted “The Process,” a series of moves to split up their basketball roster and then acquire high-level draft picks to rebuild a true title contender. .
Although the Sixers are not yet a title contender, they are a perennial playoff team with the best player in the league, and it appears they may be on the verge of collapse. Washington hasn’t been a perennial playoff team since the 1980s. Whether coincidental or not, Washington has not acted with a long-term vision since that period either.
Under former owner Dan Snyder, the organization operated with a reactionary vision aiming to chase playoff spots no matter what. It wasn’t about titles. Remember the Kirk “Kurt” Cousins fiasco? It was random and short-sighted.
Harris may not prove to be an NFL champion, time will tell, but he is already showing long-term vision.
The current version of the Commanders built by Ron Rivera is not a title contender. At 3-5, they are unlikely to be a playoff team. There are some good pieces, but the collection didn’t show any consistency. Considering Rivera hasn’t won a playoff game in more than three seasons in Washington, some fans want to oust him now. Or at least defensive coordinator Jack Del Rio.
That’s okay, there’s some logic to these ideas, but these personnel changes will likely happen at some point. They are less important than the race swap.
At some point, it seems very likely that Harris will make major changes in the front office and coaching staff. However, the trade deadline provided a limited window to make a move. Harris moved on.
At present, Washington now has three picks among the top 45 picks in the 2024 NFL Draft: their own first- and second-round picks, as well as the newly acquired pick from the Bears. Maybe they’ll add more, or collect choices to move up, or down. There are a lot of options.
What seems clear is that Harris is now acting on his instinct to build a championship team, as he promised in his introductory news conference when he bought the team.
Waiving race might be a little painful, he was a pretty good and solid player, but he only had nine games left on his contract. Even with Sweat, the Leaders have the No. 31 defense in points allowed through eight games. There are only 32 teams, so his departure will not make much difference in the remaining nine competitions.
But that’s the point, it’s not about the remaining nine games. It’s about the future: a future with Harris at the helm, not Snyder, and a future that might finally look bright.
