SI’s Connor Orr said last week that the Commanders have ‘microwaved’ their rebuild with some of the moves they’ve made this off-season, which didn’t sit well with a lot of folks in DC – including Craig Hoffman, who had a strong rebuttal to Orr’s take, and Lynnell Willingham, who was with Craig the day they discussed it.
Seems like that rebuttal got back to Orr, who responded to those thoughts in a column by saying, “a truncated clip of something I said generated some fresh frustration in a local market that assumes I either hate the franchise, haven't examined thoroughly enough, or that I'm baiting people into getting upset,” before doubling down on his thought that the Commanders accelerated the process with their moves instead of continuing to grow organically, basically because if they made it so far last year, maybe a few key players make the difference.
And maybe they do, but, well, Craig had an issue with Orr’s thoughts about not being fully homegrown, because, well, no team has ever won a Lombardi with 53 of their own, and to Orr’s point about Deebo Samuel, spefically...well, hear it from Craig himself after reading an excerpt:
And, after expounding on that for a few minutes, Craig had one last salvo for Orr, and any other pundits, on why the ‘homegrown’ tip or the ‘microwaving’ idea are the wrong trees to bark up:
“This has been my thing this entire offseason: it’s not about the path, or the plan, because there is no perfect plan – it’s about executing the plan. If you can build a championship contender with all trades and no draft picks, be my guest, as long as you win, and if you can do it without a single trade or a single free agent acquisition, that's fine, too,” Craig said. “But, you are at the mercy of the market; ultimately you have to respond to the market. You have the ability to respond to the market, and this market for this team was better in trades than free agency, and their ability to draft difference makers at 29 versus last year at No. 2 is very, very different. I believe they have used some of these picks smartly, they know the cap situation, and they're gonna be able to afford these guys long term if they're good, and they still have just enough draft capital to still get guys. The obsession with the plan is to me, the silliest ongoing piece of NFL analysis - whatever your plan is, be good at it!”
And after debunking the myth of trading up for a QB by invoking both Patrick Mahomes and Mitchell Trubisky, Craig had one last dagger:
“This obsession with homegrown organic talent, when there isn't a whole lot here and they're probably telling us something about what they think of this draft, maybe we should listen,” Craig said. “Who are the best three players on the Eagles, the team everyone likes to say is homegrown? I’d say Saquon, AJ Brown, and Jalen Carter – one was acquired via free agency, one was traded for, and one was drafted. Please tell me more about how they’re organically homegrown.”
Listen to Craig’s entire soliloquy on the subject above!