Commanders potential rebuild: Pay attention to Philadelphia connections if Washington looks for new GM

With last week’s loss, the 4-10 Washington Commanders are officially eliminated from playoff contention, and a new era in Washington may be just a few weeks away.

The belief in league circles has been that new Commanders managing partner Josh Harris will part ways with head coach Ron Rivera after the season. And because Rivera leads football operations with the team, Harris could ultimately reshape the structure of the organization that could potentially see GM Martin Mayhew on his way out.

If that’s the case, and if Washington begins a search for a new general manager who would be hired before the head coach, sources tell CBS Sports to pay attention to any Philadelphia connections when it comes to leading the personnel department in Washington.

To be sure, having or not having Philly ties is hardly (dis)qualifying for any candidate. That would just be one aspect of a candidate search.

Harris officially purchased the Commanders in July after more than a decade as the managing partner of the NBA’s Philadelphia 76ers. In that time he’s grown a mutual professional respect for Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie and general manager Howie Roseman.

The Eagles have gone to two Super Bowls in the previous five seasons, and Roseman has turned out an impressive group of personnel in recent years. Current Eagles staffers include:

• Assistant general manager Alec Halaby. The Harvard grad has spent his entire career with the Eagles and has been crucial helping develop analytical models.
• Vice president of football administration Jake Rosenberg. The Penn grad works as Roseman’s right hand and has a background as a commodities trader.
• Director of football operations Jeff Scott. He has Washington ties with the organization for nearly a decade before joining the Eagles in 2021 as a senior pro scout.
• Director of player personnel Charles Walls. He joined the Eagles last year after scouting for both the Browns and Packers.
• Director of scouting Brandon Hunt. Before coming to Philly last year he was in the running to be the next Steelers general manager.

But it’s not only those who currently have their checks signed by Lurie who could be of interest to Harris.

Browns general manager Andrew Berry spent 2019 as the Eagles VP of football operations. Under him in Cleveland is AGM/VP of player personnel Glenn Cook, who’s interviewed for multiple GM roles in recent years, and AGM/VP of football operations Catherine Raiche, who worked under Roseman in Philly for four years before going to Cleveland.

Bears AGM Ian Cunningham, who last year turned down the Cardinals GM job, worked under Roseman for five years, most recently in 2021 as the director of player personnel. And Giants AGM Brandon Brown was with the Eagles for five seasons as well, leaving as the director of player personnel. Lastly, Steelers AGM Andy Weidl spent six years with the Eagles before going to Pittsburgh in 2023.

Any, some or all of those names could get an interview in Washington next month. But whether you worked in Philadelphia, or have a relative there, or even if you’ve never eaten a cheesesteak before, that’s not going to earn you the job.

There are plenty of candidates who never had a Philadelphia zip code who could be in the mix. And there are internal candidates to be considered as well. Two-time former Panthers GM Marty Hurney is currently an executive vice president with the Commanders, and Eric Stokes is in his third season as senior director of player personnel.

Sources believe being “analytics-literate” will be a requirement in Washington, which recently hired Eugene Shen as the SVP of football strategy and who figures to be involved in the process at some level.