What We Learned About Adam Peters in the 2024 Draft – Part III

Athletic potential and building a winning culture

To wrap up my review of lessons learned from Adam Peters’ first draft in Washington, I would like to briefly shift focus from the early rounds to the later part of the draft. The Commanders only made three selections on Day 3. But they all seemed to be cut from the same cloth in certain respects.

Then, I will close on a topic that we have heard a lot about over the past four years. Like his predecessor, Peters is not simply tasked with finding players to fit the team’s new schemes. Comments about “recalibration” notwithstanding, his hire was part of a ground-up rebuild of the Washington NFL franchise. In addition to drafting players who could execute on the field, his draft process was also geared toward selecting players to lead revival of a winning culture in Washington football which, by many accounts, had been lagging despite all the talk to the contrary.

At least one Commanders’ locker room leader seems to have felt that the 49ers’ franchise would be a good model to follow:

With the hiring of 49ers’ Assistant GM Adam Peters to lead the roster rebuild, Terry might just have got his wish. Let’s take a final look at Peters’ first few steps, hopefully in the right direction.

Part I: Best Player Available, Not Mel Kiper’s Draft Board

Part II: Moving Up and Moving Down, Scouting Against the Roster

Part III: Athletic Potential, Building a Winning Culture

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Big, Fast and Violent

In the first two parts of the series, we saw how Adam Peters’ choices in the early rounds of the draft leaned toward prospects who were either well ahead of the next player on his board (Best Player Available), or players with clear paths to upgrade positions at or near the top of the depth chart early in their time with the Commanders (Scouting the Roster).

Those types of players are few and far between on Day 3 of the draft. The Commanders’ selections in the fifth and seventh round were united by some common themes, which also apply to his early round picks.

One theme was a pronounced tendency to pick elite athletes. Ken Lee Platte invented the Relative Athletic Score (RAS), to provide a single metric to rate a player’s athleticism relative to their size amongst other players at their position since 1987. A grade above 9.0 indicates elite relative athleticism for a position. The Commanders’ draft picks had the highest average RAS in the 2024 draft, even without scores from two highly athletic players:

In addition to exceptional athleticism, Peters’ selections on Day 3, and defensive players picked earlier, had something else in common. They all have a tendency to “arrive violently” at the point of attack, just as Defensive Coordinator Joe Whitt promised they would in his introductory press conference.

Even the diminutive nickel CB, Mike Sainstril profiles as a feisty defender who plays with unexpected physicality in coverage, run support and blitzing from the slot.

Peters repeated Whitt’s exact words when describing second round pick Johnny Newton:

Really a three-down player who you can play on the run downs, play on pass downs, skilled, hands and feet are tied together. And he arrives violently when he gets to the ball and he plays just like we want him to play.

This brings us back to one of the core features of Peters’ draft process. He works collaboratively with coaches, scouts and analytics staff to match prospects to the coaching staff’s preferences for players to run their schemes. When I say “Peters”, I really mean his process. The preference for premium athleticism and physicality may well flow from the coaching staff.

The late rounds of the draft are where the 49ers did some of their best work. Their drafts during his tenure were remarkable for unearthing elite talents and quality starters on Day 3, including:

• TE George Kittle, 2017 5^th round, 2x All Pro, 5x Pro Bowl
• DT D.J. Jones, 2017 6^th round, 5-year starter
• LB Dre Greenlaw, 2018 5^th round, 4-year starter
• CB Deommodore Lenoir, 2021 5^th round, 2-year starter
• S Talanoa Hufanga, 2021 5^th round, All Pro
• G Spencer Burford, 2022 4^th round, 2-year starter
• QB Brock Purdy, 2022 7^th round, Pro Bowl

One of the keys to their success was focussing on players with upside, rather than picking players who may have peaked at a backup or role-player level due to athletic limitations. That theme is reflected in Washington’s Day 3 picks in 2024.

Assistant GM Lance Newmark had this to say after the draft about fifth round pick, LB Jordan Magee:

Magee from Temple…a guy that we liked through the process…both sides…the coaching staff was really excited about him, the scouting staff was excited about him…I’m sure you’ve seen a lot of reports about the athlete himself in terms of testing and numbers. A long, rangy athletic guy that can really cover ground.

Magee is on the light side at 228 lbs, but makes up for it with tremendous instincts to shoot gaps, and aggressive tackling reminiscent of a heat-seeking missile. He will need to work on playing with better discipline to unleash that raw talent effectively at the pro level. As for those numbers Newmark referred to, Magee’s 9.60 RAS ranked fifth in the LB draft class. He grades in the elite range in speed (4.55 sec 40, 1.57 10 yd split) and agility (4.16 shuttle, 6.9 sec 3-cone), and was great in explosiveness. The only thing keeping his RAS score down was his weight.

Magee’s athletic traits and instincts give him a chance to earn a roster spot early on special teams while he learns to refine his game while playing behind some of the best LBs in the business.

Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

Newmark had this to say about the Commanders’ next pick in the fifth round:

Dominique Hampton, a really intriguing prospect. A kind of unique body type. He played linebacker, he’s got some safety traits. A lot of versatility, a lot of ways that pick can go for us. We’re really excited about getting that athlete in our building. Long, fast, big time testing numbers in the process. Physical, competitive, like I said, he’s got a lot of experience in different roles on defense. We had a vision for how we would be able to use him both short term and long term. You know he’s got very high upside on special teams as well. So he’s a really exciting developmental athlete for us.

Like Magee, Hampton has elite athletic traits for his position. At 6’2” and 215 lbs, with a 6’7” wingspan, he has the size and length that defensive coordinators dream of. His 9.57 RAS was third highest in the draft class at free safety, with a fast 40 time (4.51 sec) and high agility scores (4.14 sec short shuttle, 6.83 sec 3-cone). Hampton is also a ferocious tackler.

If he can refine his man coverage technique and learn to take better angles in run support, he has the tools to become an elite safety in Washington’s Legion of Boom derived coverage schemes. He was a core special teamer in college. That experience combined with his elite athleticism provides his best chance to earn playing time early, while he comes up to speed on defense.

Newmark continued with the same theme in his comments about the final pick in the Commanders’ draft class:

Jean-Baptiste is another guy that’s long, athletic, another guy that loves football. He was very excited about his opportunity here. It was a great phone call when we picked him. He was very excited and emotional. Just excited to add the length, the athleticism, the pass rush upside. There’s just a lot of athletic traits in all those picks today that we’re really excited about.

Edge defender Javonte Jean-Baptiste ranked 8^th in the DE draft class, with an RAS of 9.22, buoyed by high scores in speed (4.66 sec 40, 1.64 sec 10 yd split) and explosiveness (34.5” vertical, 10’7” broad jump) at 6’4.5” and 239 lbs.

This pick is the only one that I am unsure about, because it’s not clear how Jean-Baptiste could ever become more than a situational pass rush specialist in a Quinn/Whitt defense. Nevertheless, if he can develop his technique to play up to the potential of his athletic traits in that capacity, while contributing on special teams, he could prove to be a great value in the seventh round.

If his first draft in Washington is any indication, it would appear that our new GM has a preference for athletic prospects with developmental upside in the later rounds over players who have achieved at the college level despite athletic limitations. As a general rule, on Day 3 you are going to be choosing players with some deficiencies. Peters’ first three late round selections suggest that he leans toward developmental prospects with the tools to achieve high ceilings.

Culture and Character

The final message I took away from Adam Peters’ comments on the Commanders’ 2024 draft class is that character and team culture really matter to these guys. In my preview on what to expect from Peters, I wrote about the Gold Helmet designation which was applied to around 15 to 20 players in each draft class. The Gold Helmet indicates players who exhibit exemplary performance, leadership and intelligence.

Peters has brought the Gold Helmet with him to Washington and rebranded it as the Commander tag. Assistant GM Lance Newmark explained its significance in the team’s draft process:

Q: Where do you believe you improved most?

LM: That’s where we improved the most, in adding a lot of people who believe in what we believe in and have the same goal

Q: We heard about players getting a Commanders tag. Could you tell us about that?

LM: Yeah, that’s something we designate players with…they have the same core beliefs and mentality that we believe in here….it gives us an indication that this is our kind of guy. That’s definitely part of the process for us…looking for those kinds of people.

The one Commander-Tagged player whom Peters has acknowledged, thus far, was second round pick, Johnny Newton. Newton’s former head coach provided some further insight about why he would have earned the tag. Head Coach Bret Bielema was hired in 2020 to turn around a languishing Illinois football program. He credits Newton’s work ethic and leadership for helping to instil a winning culture:

One of the things I kept saying is NFL teams that draft early, they want guys who change cultures. Johnny and his approach, his demeanor, his competitive nature in practice, his ability to talk a little smack to the other side of the ball and also perform at a high level, literally helped change the direction of our program. A lot of great things have happened here since we’ve come, but I think the future of what we are is a lot of what Johnny is.

Another player who is a likely bet to have received a Commander Tag, based on Peters’ comments is nickel CB Mike Sainristil.

Mikey Sainristil, another captain. And another one where we were pretty nervous there because as it was coming down to him, I mean, that’s who we had our sights set on. And Mikey is a guy who’s impressed myself for a really long time, since he was a freshman, seeing him catch passes. And he transitioned to corner and playing nickel and had six interceptions last year, and was really the heart and soul of that Michigan team. I think anybody will even tell you, I know J.J. [McCarthy] had a big part in that too, but I think anybody will tell you Mikey as much as anybody was a team leader. I think what sealed the deal with us is when we went to the Pro Day and he was incredible doing the DB drills. And then he was the best one on offense doing the receiver drills, outstanding route runner, outstanding ball skills, and he could just go all day. And the night before, we had dinner with him and he was as impressive off the field as he was on the field. So, we were thrilled to get him.

Beyond just those two, a consistent theme of Peters’ and Newmark’s comments on their draft class was leadership and character. Seven of the nine players they selected drafted were team captains.

Photo by Mitchell Leff/Getty Images

The character traits the Commanders’ new regime values include leadership, work ethic and commitment to the game. Here is the second half of Lance Newmark’s comments on LB Jordan Magee I quoted earlier:

…a captain, a guy that fits that Commander mold in terms of mindset. Really dedicated to the game, lives and breathes football. It really checked on a lot of boxes for us; and we’re really excited to get him.

WR Luke McCaffrey was another Commanders’ pick whom Peters identified as being the type of high character players that he is seeking to build a winning culture, as he wrapped up his Day 2 press conference:

Luke McCaffrey. Near and dear to my heart with the McCaffrey family. They’re an incredible family. But that’s, I mean sure, it’s certainly a bonus when you draft somebody to know that. But Luke earned that. And Luke was a captain at Rice as well. He took a road less traveled where he started off as a quarterback and really taught himself how to be one of the best receivers in the country in the last two years. And so he’s got size, he’s got speed, he’s got great movement skills, and I think he’s only going to ascend. We’re really, really excited to have him in the building too. So, exemplary players and really exemplary character with all those guys, and that’s why we’re so happy.

Finally, there was one last thing that came across as I worked through all of Peters’ Comments on his draft picks and the draft process as a whole. The Commanders are looking for players with a tough, competitive mindset, to play a physical brand of football. But as long as Adam Peters is in charge, they are going to have a lot of fun doing that.

Here is a good summary:

I think the, uh, the strength, I would say just knowing the people on this team, the strength of this team is that we’re fast, we’re competitive, there’s a lot of really, really great people on this team and they love football. The guys that were here last week, which we had full attendance in that, veteran minicamp, they love playing together. And so we brought in a bunch of guys that are gonna love playing with each other, so we’re proud of that. This team’s gonna create its own identity and that remains to be seen. That’s one of the fun things about this is you don’t know what you’re gonna get. But I know that I’m proud of this team and I know DQ is too. I know Josh is too, and we’re gonna have a lot of fun.

Just about every single comment about the draft process, players he picked or anything else includes some element of fun. I got the impression that Peters really enjoys what he does and is building an organization culture in which everyone enjoys coming to work. What a refreshing change from the last 24 years that would be.

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