GREATER LANDOVER, Maryland — The Washington Commanders clinched the No. 2 pick in the NFL draft with their season-ending 38-10 loss to the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday.
That gives the expected next regime in charge the opportunity to select one of the top two quarterback prospects expected to be available: USC’s Caleb Williams or North Carolina’s Drake Maye. Chicago owns the No. 1 pick.
The Commanders finished 4-13 after losing their final eight games, a stretch that included coach Ron Rivera firing defensive coordinator Jack Del Rio and taking over the play-calling on defense. Washington lost all six of those games to tie the franchise record for the most defeats in a season.
Rivera, who celebrated his 62nd birthday Sunday, and many others are expected to be fired Monday as new ownership makes wholesale changes to the front office and coaching staff. Rivera, who has been in charge of football operations for the past four seasons, said Friday controlling owner Josh Harris plans to split the personnel and head coaching roles moving forward.
That's probably for the best after Rivera's tenure produced just one playoff appearance — a loss — and left very few building blocks for the future. This season was meant to be a chance for Sam Howell to show he can be the franchise's QB moving forward, and he became Washington's first player to start every game of a season at the position since Kirk Cousins in 2017.
It did not go as planned for Howell or offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy, who came to the Commanders in part to show he should get an NFL head job and whose future is also murky. Howell on Sunday threw two more interceptions to give him a league-high 21 this season and was sacked four more times to make it a league-high 65 over 17 games.
Washington went 26-40-1 with Rivera, who fell to 102-103-2 in his coaching career, which began with nearly a decade in Carolina before he was fired midseason in 2019.
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