Adam Peters confirmed the Commanders are letting Jon Allen seek a trade, but he also confirmed a piece of team front office news during Tuesday’s presser at the NFL Scouting Combine: Martin Mayhew has decided to retire.
Mayhew, 59, was the Commanders’ nominal GM prior to Peters’ hiring, and he moved into a senior personnel advisory role with the team last season – but now, after 26 seasons in an NFL executive role, he is hanging up his hat.
“Martin has decided to retire, and I can’t say enough great things about him. He spent 26 years in the NFL, and I first met him when I was at UCLA writing letters to front offices in the NFL – the one person who got back to me was Martin, when he was with the Lions,” Peters said at the start of his presser. "When I got here, he was one of the first people I really wanted to keep and work with. I was lucky enough that he wanted to stay, and we couldn't have done what we did last year without him."
Mayhew played nine NFL seasons, including four in Washington, from 1988-96, then joined the Redskins as an intern under GM Charley Casserley in 1999. He spent the following year as an intern in the NFL’s labor relations department while also serving as the upstart XFL’s director of football administration, but he returned to the front office in 2001 and spent the next quarter century as a personnel executive and/or GM with the Lions, Giants, Niners, and Washington.
He came to town in 2021 as the GM after Ron Rivera’s first year, he and Marty Hurney coming in as Rivera’s two hand-picked front office hires, and spent three years in that role before moving aside for Peters in 2024 – staying on to help Peters select and mold the very successful draft class.
"He was instrumental in everything we did in terms of the draft and free agency," Peters said. "He made a lot of big deals in free agency. He's a great friend, great confidant and a great person. I want to thank him for all he's given to this franchise and this league. He will be missed. He's a true Commander."