JP Finlay was among those to confirm that after two days and five interviews, the Commanders have narrowed down their GM search to two names: Bears assistant GM Ian Cunningham and 49ers assistant GM Adam Peters, with both having turned down other interview requests so far.
"I think these are both two very legit candidates, but I think it's been Peters as the top priority all along, and it is trending towards that," JP said Thursday. "I think this is really exciting times for Washington, but none of this guarantees anything. You hope they get it right; when they hire the people, you root for the people, but there's no sure things here. But, I really think it's not an accident here that Peters is making it through to a second interview, and the timeline going forward is going to be pretty interesting."
"All that intelligence in that room interviewing these men, whoever they decide, I'm fine with it," BMitch replied. "We hear names, we hear people pump up somebody and then we go, 'oh, I like this guy better.' We don't know, we ain't talking to them! So, I'm gonna let them do their thing."
It's possible that Josh Harris could hire a head of football operations and then a GM, which BMitch is also cool with, and it's possible Martin Mayhew, who was 'boxed out of a lot of real decisions,' could stick around.
"You can hire a president of football operations right now because nobody currently has that job; it's not even a title yet that doesn't exist in Washington," JP said. "There is an executive vice president of football player personnel named Marty Hurney, and there's a general manager in Mayhew. You can't hire a new GM if you got one on the books, so either some folks gotta start getting fired here, or they keep them around."
"If they go with Peters, there's a possibility Mayhew stays around, but if they go with Cunningham, I don't know," BMitch replied.
Washington also has a new SVP of Football Strategy in Eugene Shen and an SVP of football administration in Rob Rogers, so it's entirely possible in JP's mind that if they hire a younger name like Peters (44) or Cunningham (38), they want veteran experience in there with them as they take the big job for the first time.
Or, maybe not?
"Sometimes a young person comes in and they have an innovative mindset, and someone older may hold them back and not allow them to do their thing," BMitch said. "You have to be careful when you have older gentlemen, because they want to tell the young person how to do stuff all the time."
Regardless of structure, having had five interviews and narrowing down to two clear candidates in already is 'the most exciting thing for Commanders fans.'
"They're moving fast, and they're being thorough," JP said. "When you want to get something don, and the means to get it done and the capacity to move fast, it tells me a lot. Ian Cunningham turned down Arizona for their job last year, and Adam Peters has said no to multiple interviews. These guys want to be here, and want to build with this group. That is great news, Commanders fans; nothing's guaranteed, we have no idea if they're going to be good, but people want these guys, and they've said no to lots of other spots and they're saying yes here."
