Will general manager Adam Peters have more luck in 2024?
The Washington Commanders hold the No. 2 overall selection in the NFL Draft, which hasn’t been a happy hunting ground throughout franchise history.
Unless Washington Commanders general manager Adam Peters trades his pick, it will mark the sixth time in franchise history that the team has had the No. 2 overall selection in the NFL Draft. The previous results could have been better. Sometimes it was due to injury. Sometimes, poor player management. Other times, it was simply a bad evaluation. Usually, it was a combination of two or more of those factors.
Having the second overall pick puts a team in a position to get a cornerstone player. In the fourth year of the draft – 1939 – the Chicago Bears got quarterback Sid Luckman at No. 2. Sixty-nine years later, the Detroit Lions took Calvin Johnson. Both went on to Pro Football Hall of Fame careers, as did 11 other players taken in that spot. These include the likes of Lawrence Taylor, Eric Dickerson, and Marshall Faulk.
Then again, No. 2 picks have also constituted some of the draft’s biggest all-time busts. Tony Mandarich and Ryan Leaf headline that worrisome list. They are joined by Rick Mirer, Greg Robinson, and Charles Rogers, who caught 36 balls after being taken second by the Lions in 2003.
The Commanders are expected to take a quarterback. We don’t have to look far back to see the potential highs and lows. Will the new signal-caller be the next C.J. Stroud or Zach Wilson? Washington, for the record, already has a No. 2 overall quarterback on its roster in Marcus Mariota.
Let’s take a quick look at Washington’s troubled history with the No. 2 selection. Whether this sheds any light or offers any insight into what Peters should do in 2024 is debatable, but as George Santayana famously pointed out, if you don’t remember history, you are doomed to repeat it.
The Spanish-born, Harvard-educated philosopher left the USA when he was 50 years old in 1912 and spent his remaining years in Europe. But Santayana did once opine that three things made America great. Jazz music, kindness, … and football. I wonder how he’d assess the Jayden Daniels/Drake Maye/J.J. McCarthy competition?
Without further ado, here’s how Washington has fared at No. 2 overall throughout franchise history.
Riley Smith – 1936 NFL Draft
Riley Smith was the second player ever drafted in the NFL given that 1936 was the first year of the draft. The now-Washington Commanders were picking second, behind Philadelphia. The Eagles chose Heisman Trophy winner Jay Berwanger.
He never ended up playing in the league. Thus, Smith was the first drafted player to ever appear in an NFL game.
Washington wasn’t even Washington at the time. They were still in Boston. Smith was drafted to play quarterback, but this was in the single wing. It was not the same position it is today. And the former Alabama star, like all players in the league’s early years, didn’t merely play signal-caller. He was also the team’s placekicker and played in the defensive backfield.
When Smith joined the team, Boston already had a future Pro Football Hall of Famer in the backfield – Cliff Battles. The following year – their first in Washington – they would select Sammy Baugh. This trio constituted one of the greatest backfields in NFL history. They won their first championship in 1937. The future looked very bright.
It stayed bright primarily because of Baugh. Battles would retire following a contract dispute the following year and Smith had his career cut short by injury in 1938. It was a major loss.
During his brief three years in the league, Smith was a leader, a reliable kicker, and a very good defender. Though Baugh threw the passes from his single-wing halfback position, Smith was entrusted with play-calling. He coached briefly after his playing days were over, then served in the US Navy during World War II, before going on to have a successful business career back in Alabama after the war.
Norm Snead – 1961 NFL Draft
After the Riley Smith pick, the now-Washington Commanders would not have the second pick for 26 years. For many of the intervening campaigns, thanks to the presence of Sammy Baugh, they were too good to pick that high.
Washington did have the No. 1 overall pick in 1948. However, that was the result of a short-lived league experiment that awarded the top pick via lottery.
By 1961, Washington was among the worst teams in the history of the league. The expansion Dallas Cowboys were even worse, and the newly minted-Minnesota Vikings were given the first selection. Washington then traded for the Cowboys pick and therefore had both the second and third picks in the draft – something that would be repeated later in franchise history.
Tall, big-armed quarterback Norm Snead, from Wake Forest, was the choice.
Washington had been trying – and failing – to find Baugh’s replacement for more than a decade. Snead seemed like the one who might finally end the drought. He was tough. He could throw deep. But he was sabotaged by a dreadful roster. The signal-caller was harassed constantly and threw twice as many interceptions as touchdowns during his rookie season.
But he hung in there. And the following year, when owner George Preston Marshall was finally forced to integrate his roster, Snead formed a special bond with newly-acquired star receiver Bobby Mitchell. He would show a great deal of promise through the 1962 and 1963 campaigns.
After three years in Washington, he was traded for a much better quarterback. The Philadelphia Eagles were growing tired of the antics of Sonny Jurgensen and thought Snead was a better option. How wrong they were.
Snead would have a long and decent career, mostly with the Eagles. But Jurgensen was a sensational acquisition.
Snead was the best selection Washington ever made with the No. 2 pick. Not because of what he did with the franchise, but because of what he fetched them in return.
Lavar Arrington – 2000 NFL Draft
As in 1961, the now-Washington Commanders had both the second and third selections in the 2000 NFL Draft. Unlike the previous occasion, this was not because the team was among the league’s worst.
Washington had stockpiled draft picks through several shrewd trades and was able to manipulate the board to get two highly coveted players. Chris Samuels – the No. 3 pick – would be a perennial Pro Bowl left tackle for the next decade. The No. 2 pick, linebacker Lavar Arrington, had a somewhat more complicated career.
At Penn State, Arrington was Superman. Almost literally. When he leaped over the line to stop Illinois running back Elmer Hickman on a key fourth down play in 1998, his legend was born. The thought of adding him to a defense that already had two future Pro Football Hall of Fame cornerbacks – Darrell Green and Champ Bailey – had fans drooling.
Arrington was a very good player. For a while. He made the Pro Bowl three straight seasons. In his fourth year, he forced an extraordinary six fumbles and was credited with 11 passes defended. But the expected sack bonanza never really came. He only cracked double figures once, with 11 in 2002.
Nonetheless, Arrington seemed on the verge of long-term stardom when his career tanked after the 2004 season. Injuries played a part in this, but a bigger culprit was a clash of wills between a brash young player and an egotistical defensive coordinator Gregg Williams.
By lasting six full seasons in Washington, Arrington is the most successful No. 2 overall pick the team ever made. Even so, his career remains vaguely disappointing. So much more was expected.
Robert Griffin III – 2012 NFL Draft
The ultimate failure of Robert Griffin III – due to injury and unfathomably bad decisions by the team – has negatively impacted the Washington Commanders for the past decade. It remains the biggest personnel disaster of the previous owner.
Washington gave up a lot to move into the second spot in 2012. For one season, it looked like a brilliant move. Griffin’s rookie year was among the greatest by any first-year quarterback until C.J. Stroud came along last season. It had no rival.
Griffin won NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year. He made the Pro Bowl. He took his team to the playoffs.
It all came crashing down in the first-round loss to the Seattle Seahawks. Griffin entered the game with a mild knee injury that had caused him to sit out briefly toward the end of the season. After a stellar first quarter in which he outperformed fellow rookie Russell Wilson, he re-injured the complication.
Everyone could see that Griffin could no longer function as a productive quarterback. He should have been pulled in favor of solid backup Kirk Cousins. But coach Mike Shanahan saw it differently.
He left the former Baylor sensation in the game and the lead evaporated. He left him in until Griffin suffered a devastating further injury to his knee, which would effectively end his run as a top-flight quarterback.
Griffin may bear some responsibility for how this all played out, but he was caught in a terrible situation – an ego battle between an owner and a coach which led to disastrous decisions. They were supposedly the grown-ups and abdicated their duties. The Commanders paid a heavy price.
The once-explosive quarterback lasted two more seasons in Washington and was never the same. We never got to see him play at full strength under Kyle Shanahan. That’s what was supposed to happen. By the end, it petered out into widespread bitterness and frustration.
Chase Young – 2020 NFL Draft
The first piece I ever wrote for Riggo’s Rag was about why they should draft Chase Young with the No. 2 pick in 2020. I’ve been wrong plenty of times, but perhaps never more than with that opinion.
The problem is – everyone thought Young was a can’t-miss defensive end. The only real question was whether the Washington Commanders should pick a quarterback instead. Most thought the generational pass-rusher represented the best value.
After a good rookie season, Young suffered a bad injury in 2021 which impacted both his second and third campaigns. He also seemed to clash with his defensive coaches who considered him undisciplined. This was the same problem that Lavar Arrington had with his staff.
There is a difference between Lavar and Young. Why Gregg Williams wouldn’t turn Arrington loose is a mystery. He was highly productive when allowed to freelance. The same is not true of Young.
He made plays occasionally, but not enough to warrant the freedom Young seems to want. It turns out that the former Ohio State phenom simply wasn’t as special as initially thought.
He’s a good player, but there are lots of good edge forces out there. When a player is picked No. 2 overall, they need to be cornerstone pieces. The evaluation of Young suggested he was such a player. It now appears that this evaluation was wrong.
Young was traded midway through his fourth season with the Commanders for a third-round pick in 2024. Of Washington’s five No. 2 picks in franchise history, only Arrington lasted more than four seasons with the team – and he only made it through six.
Hopefully, whoever Adam Peters takes this year will have a better run.
