From woe-are-we to whoa-we’re-good happened after Daniel Snyder sold the team to Josh Harris. Here’s how.
It has been a long time since anybody took the Washington Commanders (nee Football Team and Redskins) seriously. The franchise hasn’t won a playoff game since the 2005-06 season when Mark Brunell was their starting quarterback and Joe Gibbs was their head coach. In the nearly twenty years following that playoff win, Washington has made only four postseason appearances.
That was then. Now, in 2024, Washington has a different vibe. Entering Week 16, the Commanders have a promising 9-5 record, second in the NFC East, and the team is squarely in the playoff hunt.
Averaging 365 yards of offense per game, the Commanders have found their spark, and it’s Heisman-winning rookie quarterback Jayden Daniels—the LSU product who was the second overall pick of the 2024 NFL Draft. Daniels brings more than just talent to the Commanders; he also brings positive energy and constant optimism. For example, when wide-open receiver Noah Brown dropped a pass, Daniels smiled, and the Commanders scored a touchdown on the same drive.
That shows you why this is not the Washington team from past seasons.
The change started when long-term Daniel Snyder sold the franchise to Josh Harris, an investor from Maryland who also owns the NBA’s Philadelphia Eagles and the NHL’s New Jersey Devils. Harris’s first order of business was to change the team’s mentality, and one way to do that was to bring in players who played for winning college programs and had collegiate success individually. Daniels and WR Mike Sainristil filled the bill.
Since the 2024 NFL Draft, the Commanders have gone from being a consistent bottom-dweller to one of the league’s most exciting teams.
Washington must capitalize on the team’s success and buy into the team’s current potential. The conversation about investing in the future should completely disappear in the Washington organization. The Commanders should be investing in something else, and that something else is Jayden Daniels.
