When Adam Peters took the reins as general manager of the Washington Commanders, he brought with him a résumé that reads like a blueprint for NFL front office success. Fifteen years in the league.
Stints with the Denver Broncos and San Francisco 49ers. Nine playoff appearances.
Four Super Bowl trips. He’s seen what a championship roster looks like from the inside - and now, for the first time, he’s the one tasked with building one from scratch.
This isn’t Peters working under John Elway in Denver or playing consigliere to John Lynch in San Francisco. This is his show.
Every draft pick. Every roster move.
Every decision with long-term implications for the franchise. And in Washington, a team desperate for a turnaround, the stakes couldn’t be higher.
A Proven Track Record - With Some Blemishes
Peters’ journey through NFL front offices has been marked by some impressive draft-day wins. In Denver, he was part of the scouting team that helped land stars like Demaryius Thomas, Julius Thomas, Von Miller, and Malik Jackson - players who were instrumental in bringing a Lombardi Trophy to the Mile High City.
But not everything was gold. The Broncos’ 2014 and 2015 draft classes - when Peters had moved up to assistant director of college scouting - largely missed the mark.
That’s the nature of the draft, though. Even the best evaluators don’t bat a thousand.
Things started trending upward again in 2016, his lone year as Denver’s director of college scouting. That class brought in safety Justin Simmons in the third round - a steal, in hindsight - along with Day 3 contributors like Connor McGovern and Riley Dixon.
Then came San Francisco, where Peters helped build one of the NFL’s most talented rosters. Nick Bosa, George Kittle, Deebo Samuel Sr., Dre Greenlaw - all key pieces in the Niners’ recent success.
And of course, there was the Brock Purdy pick in 2022, the kind of late-round lightning strike that can define a front office’s legacy. For every miss - and there were a few - there was a Jauan Jennings in the seventh round to balance the scales.
Washington: The Real Test Begins
Now in Washington, Peters is no longer a supporting actor. He’s the lead.
And his vision was clear from the jump: build through the draft. In 2024, he had six picks in the top 100 - including two inherited from previous deals - and the No. 2 overall selection.
That pick was Jayden Daniels, the electric LSU quarterback with sky-high potential.
Daniels’ rookie season, though, has been rough. While quarterbacks taken around him are leading playoff pushes, Daniels has struggled through a tough sophomore campaign.
Injuries haven’t helped, but the contrast is stark. Still, there are flashes - enough to believe that Peters may have gotten the most important pick right.
Beyond Daniels, though, things get murky.
Mike Sainristil and Brandon Coleman, both promising as rookies, have hit sophomore slumps. Johnny Newton and Ben Sinnott, two high-upside picks, haven’t delivered the impact many expected. Injuries have limited Luke McCaffrey and Javontae Jean-Baptiste for most of the year, making it hard to get a true read on their development.
Linebacker Jordan Magee has probably had the steadiest season of the group, but even that comes with an asterisk - he’s been a backup for most of the year.
The 2025 Draft Class: Glimmers of Hope, But Still Unproven
In 2025, Peters had fewer picks to work with after trading away multiple selections to acquire veterans. The result: just five draft picks, but a few early signs of promise.
Josh Conerly Jr. has shown growth at right tackle, and Jacory Croskey-Merritt has brought some juice to the running game. Trey Amos and Jaylin Lane have each had their moments - flashes that suggest they could carve out roles moving forward.
But the big question looms: are these flashes the beginning of something more, or are we already seeing their ceiling?
Can Sainristil bounce back? Can Sinnott develop into the versatile weapon the team envisioned?
Will any of the 2025 picks take a leap with a full offseason of development? If the answer is yes, the Commanders might be sitting on a quietly solid young core.
But if not, the rebuild timeline gets murkier.
The Verdict: Vision vs. Reality
Peters has the pedigree. He’s been in the rooms where winning rosters were built.
He’s seen what works - and what doesn’t. But now, with full control in Washington, the challenge is turning that experience into results.
The plan to build through the draft is sound. No one disputes that. But the early returns are mixed, and in a league that demands quick turnarounds, patience only goes so far.
The Commanders don’t need perfection from Peters’ draft classes. They need progress.
They need development. They need to see that the foundation is being laid - even if the wins haven’t come just yet.
Right now, there are more questions than answers. But that’s often how it looks in the early stages of a rebuild. The next year or two will tell us whether Peters is building a contender - or just another team stuck in the middle.