The NFL trade deadline on Tuesday taught Commanders fans a great deal about the new Josh Harris ownership group.
Harris didn’t pay $6.05 billion for the franchise to chase Wild Card playoff spots. Harris wants to compete for championships, even if that title chase may take time.
Trading Montez Sweat to Chicago in exchange for a 2024 second round pick doesn’t make Washington better for a Week 9 matchup in New England. Trading Chase Young to San Francisco for a 2024 compensatory third round pick certainly doesn’t make Washington better for a Week 13 matchup against Miami.
Sweat is a really good player. Young might be a great player if he ever stays healthy.
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Both help the Commanders now. Trading them away is about building for the future.
This has been the Harris plan in previous stops in other sports, most famously in Philadelphia, where his 76ers enacted "the process," a series of moves to break down the basketball roster and then acquire high draft picks to build back a true title contender.
While the Sixers aren't title contenders quite yet, they're a perennial playoff team with a league MVP, and it seems like Philly could be on the precipice.
It's important to point out that the NFL is not the NBA, and a true multi-year "trust the process" tear down should not be the vision for the Commanders. But it is time for the new Harris ownership group to reconfigure expectations and organization goals.
Washington hasn't been a perennial playoff team since the 1980s. Coincidentally or not, Washington hasn't acted with a long-term vision since that time period either.
Under previous owner Dan Snyder, the organization operated with a reactionary vision aimed at chasing playoff spots no matter what. It wasn't about titles. Remember the Kirk "Kurt" Cousins fiasco? It was haphazard and shortsighted.
Harris may not prove to be an NFL champion, time will tell, but he's already showing long-term vision.
The current version of the Commanders built by head coach Ron Rivera is not a title contender. At 3-5 they're unlikely even a playoff team. There are some good pieces, but the group has shown zero consistency.
Considering Rivera has not won a playoff game in his three-plus seasons in Washington, some fans want him ousted now. Or at least defensive coordinator Jack Del Rio.
That's fine, there's some logic in those thoughts, but those staff changes will likely happen at some point. And they're less important than trading away Sweat and Young.
At some point Harris seems highly likely to make significant changes in the front office and on the coaching staff. The trade deadline, however, presented a finite period to make a move. And Harris moved.
At present Washington holds three picks in the top 45 of the 2024 NFL Draft -- their own first- and second-round picks in addition to the newly acquired selection from the Bears, and should own five picks in the Top 100. Perhaps they'll add more, or package the picks to move up, or move back. There are a ton of options.
There is also room to discuss if the return compensation was enough for the players traded away. Sweat for a second seems fair for all parties. Young for a comp pick third will lead to questions, but remember, while talent isn't a question, health and durability are for the former No. 2 overall pick.
What does seem clear is that Harris is now acting on his instinct of building a championship team as he promised at his introductory press conference when he bought the team. Trading away Sweat may sting a bit, he's been a good player and largely durable, but he also only had nine games remaining on his contract. Young was in the same contractual boat, and considering the money already committed to Jonathan Allen and Daron Payne, new ownership needed to examine how much was too much to spend on the defensive line.
What's more, even with Sweat and Young, the Commanders have the 31st ranked defense in points allowed through eight games. There's only 32 teams, so their departures can't make that much of a difference in the remaining nine contests.
But that's the point: This isn't about the remaining nine games. This is about the future.
A future with Harris at the helm, not Snyder, and a future that may finally be looking bright.
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