Comps Going into Summer Vacay: 71 Skins 95 Panthers

How are the Washington Commanders going to do this year? 

I have no earthly idea. All I have is fleeting football memories in the archive of my aging mind. 

I remember for instance the 1971 Skins, George Allen's first Washington Squad. Allen stocked that team with veteran players who knew what he wanted in a football player. Those veteran winners, the Ramskins, helped bring a winning mindset to a perpetual .500 football team and they went 9-4-1 and went to the playoffs Allen's first year.

The Carolina Panthers acquired veteran leadership in the expansion draft their first year of existence. They won 7 games. They brought brisk competition. The next year they got Kevin Greene. They went 12-4.

Both these teams were in the Conference Championship games the very next year. The Panthers lost to Green Bay. The Skins beat the Cowboys and lost to the Phins in the Super Bowl.

The Free Agent Class Adam Peters signed this year reminds me of those Panthers and Skins signings. Really solid. Bringing in guys who play the way the team wants to play. Veteran leadership has been significantly upgraded. Judging from a history buff perspective, that tends to produce rapid change in win totals.

I hadn't expected Peters to do what he did in Free Agency. I thought he was a Draft guy. I am happy to see he is a "by any means necessary" type guy. Drafts, trades, free agency. Grocery bagging.  

Quinn was 8-8 his first year in Atlanta.

So somewhere between 7 and 9 wins. 

If they get solid offensive line play and the defense goes ape over turnovers it will be more than that.

As with a George Allen type team, the vets on defense might be the difference between being a good first year team and a good first year playoff team.