It’s deja vu for Commanders head coach Ron Rivera.
He has no doubt, previously been down this familiar road. Rivera has raised eyebrows at times with his responses with the media during his time in Washington. However, he may actually be the right coach for this time in the Commanders transition to new ownership.
The Carolina Panthers were 2-14 for the 2010 season. Rivera was subsequently hired to replace John Fox. Rivera was not naive. He had been in the NFL long enough as a player and assistant coach to know Fox could certainly coach, having led the Panthers to 11 wins twice, 12 wins once and an NFC championship before losing the Super Bowl on a last-second Adam Vinatieri field goal.
Fast forward eight seasons to 2018. The Panthers had a new owner in David Tepper. In 2019, the Panthers struggling on their way to a 5-11 season, Tepper was ready for a change. He was ready to hire his own head coach.
Rivera came to Washington in 2020 and has coached the team to 7-9, 7-10 and 8-8-1 seasons. Longtime owner Daniel Snyder is on the way out, ready to sell. How long will the new owner want to stay with Ron Rivera?
It’s not an enviable position for Rivera. He must win big or will be shown the door. Many fans and some in the media will be unfair to Rivera regardless of what he does. If he does not trade the next two No. 1 draft choices and pay $35 million for Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson, he doesn’t want to win badly enough and is, in their eyes, a buffoon.
On the other hand, perhaps the new owner will not want to take over a team with no cap room and no first-round choices in 2023 or 2024. In one sense, next year’s money and next year’s choices are actually not Rivera’s. They are the next owner’s property and right to do with as he chooses.
As teenagers never realize until later, it is one thing to order a meal for yourself. It’s quite another as the responsible adult to pay for all of the family’s meal with your own hard-earned money.
