FILED UNDER:
Ron Rivera’s top 10 worst decisions in DC
This is the abbreviated version
By
KyleSmithforGM Jan 1, 2024, 9:00am EST
328 Comments / 328 New
Share this story
Photo by Patrick Smith/Getty Images
If all goes according to plan, the ignominious Rivera-era in Washington will come to an end in a week or so. It began with hopefulness that perhaps the former Panthers’ coach could bring some respectability to the long-suffering franchise, and ended - essentially - the same way that every other coaching effort in DC had under Dan Snyder’s administration. If all goes as expected, Rivera will finish his career with a 26-40-1 record in the nation’s capital.
As former Redskins’ head coach Steve Spurrier once said after a 5-11 campaign, “Not very good!”
Before he leaves the organization for good, let’s take a little walk down memory lane to re-visit some of the many bad decisions that ultimately sunk his work here, with the goal of closing this chapter in WFT history.
- Failing to draft a QB in 2020, and drafting Chase Young.
At the end of the day, and this day is almost finally over, I refer to the colossal mistake of the 2020 draft as Ron’s “original sin” in Washington. His failure to do the right thing with the number two overall pick in the draft was ultimately the domino that set the rest of his struggles in motion.
A small, but vocal, group of fans was skeptical of using that level of draft investment in Young at the time, and while those individuals have been vindicated in the years since, that turns out not to have been the most egregious element of the story.
RELATED
In December of 2020, details of the prior draft finally surfaced, as it was clear the Dwayne Haskins’ experiment was over. It turned out that Haskins was going to be forced upon head coach Jay Gruden and de facto GM Kyle Smith over their objections that he was no better than a third round talent:
RELATED
It’s a virtual certainty that Smith, who was still around when Rivera arrived, shared that story, and the scouting staffs’ assessment of Haskins’ inadequacy, with the new head coach/GM before the 2020 draft. Nevertheless, Rivera disregarded it, passing over Tua Tagovailoa and Justin Herbert when he had a shot to lock in a high-end QB during his first season in DC. The rest, as they say, is history.
2. Vastly overpaying for Carson Wentz
In early 2021, the Colts traded a 3rd round and 1st round pick to the Eagles for Carson Wentz. Yet, by the end of the 2021 season, where Wentz had gone 9-8 in Indy, Colts’ owner Jim Irsay appeared to despise Wentz with the burning passion of a thousand suns.
To the outside world, it wasn’t exactly clear why, but what was obvious was that Irsay would have been happy to part with Wentz at any price, if he didn’t cut him first.
In early 2022, GM Ron Rivera “looked at the analytics,” called Chris Ballard (the Colts’ GM) up, offered him two third round picks, a second round pick swap, and to pick up the full freight of Wentz’s salary (~$28M) in what has to be one of the worst trades in franchise history.
Ballard almost certainly couldn’t have believed his good fortune. Rivera had negotiated against himself.
3. Allowing Carson Wentz to start against the Browns in 2022.
It wouldn’t take long for Washington fans to understand the depth of Jim Irsay’s loathing of his former QB. By the end of October 2022, I was calling for Wentz to never take another snap with the franchise.
RELATED
He had gone 2-4 through some of the worst football Washington fans had witnessed in recent memory, and was injured against the Bears in Week 6. Over the next nine weeks, Taylor Heinicke would go 5-3-1 and put Washington in the running for a playoff spot, despite some ups and downs.
In one of the most baffling coaching moves of his time in DC, Rivera would once again start Wentz, this time against the bumbling Browns, and Washington would proceed to lose 24-10.
Much to Ron’s confusion, the loss would also cause the team to be eliminated from playoff contention, effectively ending the 2022 season.
4. Pursuing a massive trade for Russell Wilson
While the top three items are things that Rivera was able to do, number four is an action, that - had it occurred - would have topped this entire list. Thankfully, Russell Wilson blocked the deal that could have brought him to Washington in Wentz’s stead.
RELATED
Had that trade occurred, Washington would have lost - at a minimum - its 2022, 2023, and 2024 first round picks and around $85M in future dead cap. Imagine trying to recruit a new management group and head coach with that albatross hung around the neck of the organization.
5. Letting his chief talent evaluator get away.
When Rivera arrived in Washington in 2020, there was some turnover in the coaching staff, but he left the front office largely intact during the first season. Though Ron was ostensibly in complete charge of football operations, Kyle Smith was promoted from Director of College Personnel to Vice President of Player Personnel with Rivera’s arrival. Smith, who had been with the organization since 2011 as a scout was well-regarded in league circles and seemed to be ascendant.
LATEST VIDEO FROM SB NATION
VIEW MOREVIEW LESS
Aside from the top pick, Chase Young, and in the absence of a second round pick, the 2020 draft still remains arguably the most successful for Washington in, at least, the last decade, producing reliable starters in Antonio Gibson, Kamren Curl, and James-Smith Williams, as well as depth talent in Khaleke Hudson and Saahdiq Charles.
Smith left Washington in 2021, as part of Rivera’s re-structuring of the front office, and quickly took a position in Atlanta’s front office. Subsequent drafts in Washington over the past three years have failed to hold a candle to that 2020 draft, and instead have included...
6. Drafting reach first and second round projects and trading up for a long snapper.
Jamin Davis, Sam Cosmi, Jahan Dotson, Phil Mathis, Emmanuel Forbes, and Quan Martin. Those are the last six players taken in the first and second rounds of the 2021 through 2023 drafts. All of them have had rocky paths to their current career locations, and only Sam Cosmi -
converted from tackle to guard much later than he should have been - appears to be on a path to a potentially promising career. Mathis, who himself was surprised by how highly he was drafted, is the nearest to “bust” status at this point.
Forbes has underperformed at least 3 or 4 cornerbacks taken behind him in the 2023 draft, Davis lacked the chops to play the middle linebacking position he was drafted for, and Jahan Dotson has been eclipsed by several of his much later drafted peers from the 2022 draft.
The cherry on top that really caps Rivera’s drafting hijinks was the trade up for long snapper Camaron Cheeseman, who went so far off the rails in 2023 that he very nearly got punter Tress Way put into traction. The issue, diagnosed in the offseason, was finally addressed by Rivera in Week 15, when he finally cut the Cheese.
RELATED
7. Allowing Kevin O’Connell to get away
This one isn’t discussed nearly enough, in my opinion. Just like Rivera had Kyle Smith in hand when he arrived in DC, he also had an up-and-coming offensive coordinator in house. Instead of retaining Kevin O’Connell, he replaced him with his former OC from the Panthers, Scott Turner, who only lasted three seasons in Washington before he was cut loose in favor of Eric Bieniemy.
Meanwhile, O’Connell left Washington to spend a year as offensive coordinator under Sean McVay in LA, where the Rams promptly won the Super Bowl. The following offseason, O’Connell was hired as the Vikings’ head coach, where he has gone 20-12 over two seasons since.
To add insult to injury, O’Connell has enjoyed his post-Washington success working closely with two former Redskins, McVay and Kirk Cousins. If you wrote this in a movie script, it would be criticized as unbelievable.
8. Using players in the wrong position or in the wrong scheme.
This list is going to be so long, I’m certain I’ll miss some instances, but year after year, in multiple cases players were drafted, or picked up in free agency, who weren’t scheme fits, or who
were fits for the schemes that Rivera had in mind, but were forced into the wrong positions. Among those were:
I’m confident that if the new crew comes in, and keeps Andrew Wylie around, shifting him to left guard, he’ll be another post-Riv-era addition to this list.
When injury is a better GM than you are, it’s time to go.
9. Cutting Dustin Hopkins for Chris Blewitt
I’ll confess, I was one of those calling for kicking competition for Dustin Hopkins in training camp before the 2021 season. I had seen enough that I thought he could be upgraded.