"I knew I wanted to be in football somehow, someway," said Adam Peters.
Peters had gone to UCLA to play football and explained that he found out he wasn't as good a player as he had previously thought. He told Field Yates on the "Field Talk" podcast last week that he actually asked football staffers at UCLA how he could stay involved in football, realizing he wouldn't be playing after UCLA.
Crediting Randy Taylor at UCLA, Peters got his first job watching film and learning how to evaluate UCLA players. Taylor was the UCLA pro liaison, and having hired Peters, he mentored him. One week, Taylor was out of town, and Peters was extremely nervous. Some NFL scouts were coming to UCLA, and it was going to be Peters' first time hosting scouts without Taylor.
In God's providence, the two scouts coming to UCLA were Scott Pioli and Jason Licht, both with the New England Patriots. They befriended Peters and invited him out for lunch, and Peters was excited to interact with them and learn from them.
They liked what they saw in Peters and asked him to come and work the East-West Shrine game with them. The next thing you know, they hired Peters to work the 2003 NFL combine for the Patriots. "Always put your best foot forward, " expressed Peters. "Because you never know...... I didn't know who Scott and Jason were. I had no idea they were so high (up) and good at their jobs."
Peters expressed he is always thankful to have been given his first NFL start in New England, where the work ethic and attention to detail were so emphasized. Peters gladly says he was "a slappy" making tapes for the scouts and the GM (Pioli). Part of his job was driving the team minivan, transporting players to doctors, to the hospital, along with data entry, "tons of data entry." Peters said as a result, he was always learning a lot, doing whatever he could to help the team.
Although Peters did not realize this initially, He says it didn't take him long to realize that the people with whom he was working were intelligent and hard-working. In addition to Pioli and Licht, there were Thomas Dimitroff, Bob Quinn, Jon Robinson, and Nick Caserio.
In fact, Peters conveyed that one of the reasons he left the Patriots was that he could see such a logjam of talented, smart people ahead of him. Peters felt he needed to move on if he was ever going to move up the ladder in the NFL. Peters credits Bill Belichick with knowing how to recognize and develop the talent of the people he had in his own organization. As a result, Peters says he was ever learning under those people.
Arriving at his first NFL combine, Peters met Nick Caserio. Caserio asked Peters where he was living. Peters responded, "I don't know." Caserio responded, "Then come live with me." It was the start of a long friendship for Peters, who said he learned early on to respect Caserio.
Having worked with Belichick, Tom Brady, Payton Manning, John Elway, John Lynch, Kyle Shanahan, Dan Quinn, Jayden Daniels, the one thread he sees though they are all different as well, is they are highly competitive. They are "great competitors and tireless workers."
Being on different staffs and being an assistant GM, when did Peters decide Washington was the place to become a GM? Peters said the Harris ownership group was impressive, being in the NFC East, the nation's capital, having much cap space, and owning the second pick in the 2024 NFL draft.
Why Dan Quinn? Peters pointed to his preparation, inspiration, organization, and leadership.
Why Jayden ...
