Joe Theismann, like many Redskins/Commanders alumni, is in a goof place with the franchise now, as the franchise itself gets back to a good place.
“I feel like I’ve had an opportunity to be around Josh, Mitch, Dan, and Adam, and really found a place in the organization as a friend. They’re embracing the alumni coming back, and I think that's wonderful,” Theismann told Craig Hoffman on Thursday. “It’s got a different feel, a different vibe. We’ve been losing so much, it’s just become a very difficult place to be able to get excited about. Now, all of a sudden, I think there’s a lot of newness and optimism, and I’m curious to see exactly what this team's gonna be able to do on the field, because ultimately that's gonna be it. But from my perspective, they've been wonderful; Dan was really great to me, and it's just unfortunate the way things went, but we weren't able to win and that's the bottom line. Things happened and change happened, and I think what we're seeing is everybody's very excited and positive about it.”
And, even with the optimism of a new era, it still hurts to see people downplay what is already likely to be a development year.
“It matters to me in year one, and it matters to me in year 10 (how much the team wins); I was a Washington Redskin, and all of us former players are part of the organization’s history, so it’s a very difficult thing to do to hear some people say, ‘I think they can win four games,’” Joe said. “I think they can win six, or eight, but you don’t know who’s going to be healthy, or how well the young quarterback will respond, or if you're gonna be able to put together the offense and the defense and the adjustments are gonna be made in such a short period of time. How soon, and how well, will this team be able to take the teachings of the new coaching staff, and can they put the players into a place to give them a chance to flourish and be successful? That’s the hardest thing to predict, is how soon we'll be able to get it going, but I hope it’s soon. We have a lot of new faces, and I want to see them play hard, score points, and go at it for a solid 60 minutes; if they do, whatever happens happens, but that’s something that we'll be able to really get proud of, and then I believe the wins will come after that.”
Of course, it doesn’t help that Jayden Daniels may or may not have shared some sensitive info that Brandon Aiyuk used to his advantage, but at least it was mild, and a learning experience.
“It doesn’t matter what sport you play or level you play at, you never wanna share that kind of information with anybody else there; what goes on in your house stays in your house, that’s just the way it is, and I think Jayden has learned a lesson from this,” Joe said. “I think he’s learned that he's jumped into a pit of piranhas and no matter what you do, you're gonna be scrutinized, analyzed, and criticized. For him, it probably turned out to be something very positive. because it's a great lesson to learn that you just do your job.”
All that said, then, that whole rebuild, or reload, is why, even with his history with Jayden Daniels, Joe wouldn’t touch Brandon Aiyuk if he was Commanders GM Adam Peters.
“I doubt very seriously Adam Peters is gonna sit down with Jayden Daniels and say, ‘hey, do you think we ought to sign Aiyuk? Because that’s the job of the GM and coaches; the job of the quarterback, and players, is to go out and play,” Joe said. “If you’re friends, great, but I think it's gonna be a lesson learned by Jayden, and I personally feel like our wide receiver position is not one that's in desperate need. It just so happens that these two young men are friends, and Washington wound up on the radar.”
And even if Theismann didn’t see wideout as a strong enough position, there’s this:
“I think our wide receiver position is pretty darn good. Terry McLaurin has been a Pro Bowler, and if I want to try and get the ball to Terry, because he's really dynamic, defenses are gonna know that and they're gonna make you go someplace else,” Joe said. “Well, it’s the same thing with any receiver – you can bring in a really great receiver, but are you gonna be able to get him the ball? We've seen time and time again where receivers wind up going to a different team and the offense doesn't suit them, or everybody says, ‘hey, you're really good, we're just gonna take you out of the game,’ and then you wonder why do we pay this much money for this person because he can't make plays. It’s not his fault, but you still committed all the dollars.”