Entering year four of Ron Rivera's time in Washington, was a time of transition but also of finding things out. A time to find out if second-year passer Sam Howell could be the answer at quarterback and see if he could – along with what people thought would be a solid defense – make the playoffs. To see if Eric Bienimey could be a solid play-caller and offensive coordinator? Some of that has happened, but the solid defense did not.
After 10 games Washington is not out of contention officially just yet. But after trading Chase Young and Montez Sweat at the deadline and with a defense that ranks just about dead last in every big category, the playoff part looks highly unlikely.
But how far away are the Commanders from putting together a season of – not just hanging around the "In The Hunt" graphic on the broadcast – being in legitimate playoff contention?
"I think they could do it next year," Craig Hoffman said. "I genuinely think that they could do it next year."
And why so soon? Because the new ownership group will look to make massive changes to what is still currently a building full of people hired by Dan Snyder and the people that he put in charge.
"This season is not a reflection of Josh Harris and what he will be as owner. He got the team the night before the season started," Hoffman continued. "Almost nobody that works for the team now was hired while he was the owner, nevertheless, as a direct result of decisions Josh made other than keeping the people that were already there."
Hoffman then outlays all of the ways the 2023 Commanders have fallen flat from an organizational decision-making standpoint starting in the offseason and continuing into the season and why that supports his claim that staff changes coming after Week 18, could mean a big 2024 for Washington. Listen to the full segment on the audio player above!
