Commanders GM Adam Peters dances around Brandon Aiyuk, WRs questions ahead of camp

ASHBURN, Va. — Adam Peters knew the question was coming, in some form or another.

During his annual pre-training camp press conference on Tuesday, the Commanders’ general manager spent most of his time in front of the cameras talking about his receivers — and another receiver not on the roster.

“(We’re) really happy with who’s in that room, really happy with how the guys progressed and stepped up, and I think they’re going to take another step in this training camp,” Peters began when first asked about Washington’s receivers. “But like with any other room and any other place, if we have ways to get better, we’re going to look into that and really assess the decision, if it’s the right move for our team or not.”

“When you’re evaluating guys to maybe bring in for workouts or whatever, what role, if any, does a player’s social media have in that evaluation process?”

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The Commanders overhauled much of their roster this offseason, adding starting talent and depth to nearly every position. And for the most part, the team appears to be improved — on paper, anyway — from last season, when it finished 5-12 with a leaky defense and an injury-riddled offense.

The Commanders’ receiving corps remains somewhat of a mystery, though. There is no clear leader for the “No. 2” wideout position opposite Terry McLaurin. The vacancy in that role isn’t necessarily new for the Commanders; receiving depth has been a question mark for years. But the lack of a proven outside receiver is especially glaring this year given the troubles the Commanders had last season, when injuries (and McLaurin’s contract stalemate during camp) hindered the offense for much of the year.

Early in the offseason, receiver Brandon Aiyuk seemed like a real possibility given his familiarity with Peters, quarterback Jayden Daniels and the 49ers’ anticipated split with Aiyuk.

After Aiyuk spent much of the summer criticizing the 49ers and vowing to sign with the Commanders once released, it’s fair to wonder if the possibility of him landing in Washington has diminished. No matter, he remains on the 49ers’ reserve/left-squad list and is unable to play anywhere else until he is reinstated by the NFL and released.

Peters has not publicly said if Washington would be interested in Aiyuk (doing so would violate the NFL’s anti-tampering policy), but reporters tried, albeit playfully, to pry a concrete answer from him on Tuesday.

When asked how much a player’s social media presence factors into their evaluation of him, Peters laughed and responded, “That’s a good roundabout question.”

“We look at that stuff,” he continued with a grin. “I mean, it’s not always the first thing we look at. Obviously, you’re looking at the tape and you talk to the teams the players have been on and how they were in the locker room, the players that played with them and so on and so forth to make those decisions. But that’s not usually a huge part of it. Usually.”