... the more they stay the same.
When George Allen coached the then-Redskins in the early and mid-'70s, they were nicknamed "The Over the Hill Gang" because Allen believed in mortgaging draft choices in order to "win now." In 1972, Washington's first pick was in the eighth round (a round that no longer exists today); in 1973, the fifth round; in 1974 and 1975, the sixth round; in 1976, the fifth round; in 1977, the fourth round; in 1978, the sixth round; and in 1979, the fourth round.
The result? First-round eliminations from the playoffs in 1971, 1973, 1974, and 1976. Only in 1972 did they advance beyond the first round, losing to Miami in Super Bowl VII, evading what would have been the only shutout loss in Super Bowl history only because Dolphins kicker Garo Yepremian tried to impersonate a quarterback.
After using their first-round picks on wide receiver Art Monk in 1980, offensive tackle Mark May in 1981, and cornerback Darrell Green in 1983 (Washington traded its first-round pick to the Rams in exchange for a second-round pick and a third-rounder in 1982), the team regressed into its quick-fix habits, not having another first-round pick until 1991.
This resulted in Washington having the oldest roster in the entire NFL for many years.
Now, fast-forward to 2025, when Washington once again has the NFL's oldest roster — save that this time around, mortgaged draft choices is not the reason, as they have made a first-round pick in each of the last eleven consecutive years, including Jayden Daniels last year.
Reasons notwithstanding, this team shows all the signs of a team with a superannuated roster: where in 1978, they finished 8-8 after starting 6-0, including losses in their last five games, this season they started 3-2 and have gone 1-9 since, the lone victory coming over the 2-13 Giants.
Francois Andre Danican, an 18th Century polymath — he earned fame as both a composer and a chess master — who operated under the byname "Philidor" (a portmanteau of the Greek words "philos," meaning "love," and "doron," meaning "gift"), observed that pawns are "the soul of chess." Similarly, draft choices are the soul of football — and any team that habitually trades away their draft choices will come to torment sooner or later.
In addition to "stopping to a walk," to borrow a term from horse racing, at the ends of seasons, Washington has often blown leads in the fourth quarters of games during this period: In 1977, for example, the Redskins outscored their opponents 64-17 in the first quarter, but were outscored 103-57 in the fourth quarter. The result was a 9-5 final record that kept them out of the playoffs because the Bears had a better point differential in games played within the conference (in 1979, Washington also missed out on the playoffs, again to Chicago, and again due to point differential, this time in all games: in their regular-season finale, the Bears mauled the Cardinals, who were clearly tanking the game to get an easy schedule for 1980, 42-6, assuring the Bears of a playoff spot so long as Washington lost to Dallas, regardless of the score; as if on cue, the Redskins blew a 13-point lead with less than four minutes remaining, after Clarence Harmon fumbled — why didn't John Riggins, who ran for 151 yards and scored 2 touchdowns in the game, get the ball instead?), and Roger Staubach directed the Cowboys on two late scoring drives to win it.
We saw this tear-jerker movie again on Saturday, when the Commanders held a 10-7 halftime lead, only to allow 22 unanswered points before scoring a classic garbage touchdown with 1:10 left in the game.
True, the Rams did win Super Bowl LVI despite trading away their first-round picks for seven straight years beginning in 2017; but only twice did they not pick until the third round, so comparing them to George Allen, who started out with the Rams (from 1966 through 1970) — and it sure didn't hurt the Rams that they got to play that game on their home field — is like comparing the common cold to triple pneumonia.
The Commanders will not have picks in either the second round or the fourth round in 2026 (although they will have two picks in the sixth round — their own and San Francisco's) after not having had a third- or a fifth-round pick in 2025.
This is no way to run a football team. But old habits die hard.
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