Frederick Adam Peters (born May 24, 1979) is an American professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

executive who is the

general manager A general manager (GM) is an executive who has overall responsibility for managing both the revenue and cost elements of a company's income statement, known as profit & loss (P&L) responsibility. A general manager usually oversees most or all of ...

(GM) for the

Washington Commanders The Washington Commanders are a professional American football team based in the Washington metropolitan area. The Commanders compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) East division ...

of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

(NFL). His NFL career began as a

scout Scout may refer to: Youth movement *Scout (Scouting), a child, usually 10–18 years of age, participating in the worldwide Scouting movement ** Scouts (The Scout Association), section for 10-14 year olds in the United Kingdom ** Scouts BSA, sect ...

with the

New England Patriots The New England Patriots are a professional American football team based in the Greater Boston area. The Patriots compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East division. The Pa ...

in 2003, spending six seasons with them before joining the

Denver Broncos The Denver Broncos are a professional American football team based in Denver. The Broncos compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC West, West division. The team is headquartered in E ...

in 2009. Peters served as the Broncos' college scouting director for three seasons before joining the

San Francisco 49ers The San Francisco 49ers (also written as the San Francisco Forty-Niners and nicknamed the Niners) are a professional American football team based in the San Francisco Bay Area. The 49ers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member ...

in 2017. He worked closely with general manager John Lynch, initially as vice president of player personnel and later as assistant general manager being named Commanders GM in 2024. Peters has been a part of three

Super Bowl The Super Bowl is the annual History of the NFL championship, league championship game of the National Football League (NFL) of the United States. It has served as the final game of every NFL season since 1966 NFL season, 1966 (with the excep ...

-winning teams, two with the Patriots and one with the Broncos.

Early life

Frederick Adam Peters was born on May 24, 1979, in

Mountain View, California Mountain View is a city in Santa Clara County, California, United States, part of the San Francisco Bay Area. Named for its views of the Santa Cruz Mountains, the population was 82,376 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Mountain V ...

, and raised in nearby

Cupertino Cupertino ( ) is a city in Santa Clara County, California, United States, directly west of San Jose on the western edge of the Santa Clara Valley with portions extending into the foothills of the Santa Cruz Mountains. The population was 60,38 ...

. He attended

Monta Vista High School Monta Vista High School is a four-year public high school in Cupertino, California. Part of the Fremont Union High School District, the school serves most of the area of western Cupertino. In 2020, Monta Vista was ranked by ''Newsweek'' as the ...

, earning all-conference honors in

as a

tight end The tight end (TE) is an offense (sports), offensive position in American football, arena football, and Canadian football. It is a hybrid that combines the characteristics and roles of both an offensive lineman and a receiver (football), receiv ...

and in

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

as a

left fielder In baseball, a left fielder, abbreviated LF, is an outfielder who plays defense in left field. Left field is the area of the outfield to the left of a person standing at home plate and facing towards the pitcher's mound. In the numbering system ...

and

first baseman A first baseman, abbreviated 1B, is the player on a baseball or softball team who fields the area nearest first base, the first of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. The first baseman is responsible for the majori ...

. He enrolled at

West Valley College West Valley College is a public community college in Saratoga, California. It is part of the California Community College system. History The college was founded as West Valley Junior College in 1963. It was to serve the footprint of the Campb ...

, a junior college in

Saratoga, California Saratoga is a city in Santa Clara County, California, United States. Located in Silicon Valley, in the southern Bay Area, it had a population of 31,051 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Saratoga is known for its wineries, restaurant ...

, in 1997. Peters was a tight end and team captain for their football team, earning two All-

Coast Conference The Coast Conference is a college athletic conference that is affiliated with the California Community College Athletic Association. Its members are primarily based in the Southern San Francisco Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, commonly ...

honors. He transferred to the

University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school the ...

(UCLA) in 1999 to play as a reserve

defensive end Defensive end (DE) is a defensive position in the sport of gridiron football. This position has designated the players at each end of the defensive line, but changes in formation (American football), formations over the years have substantially ...

for the

Bruins Bruin, (from Dutch for "brown"), is an English folk term for brown bear. Bruin, Bruins or BRUIN may also refer to: Places * Lake Bruin, ox-bow lake of the Mississippi River located in northeastern Louisiana ** Lake Bruin State Park * Bruin, K ...

. Peters decided to stop playing football midway through his time at UCLA, believing that he had no future as a player as teammates like

DeShaun Foster DeShaun Xavier Foster (born January 10, 1980) is an American college football coach and former player who is the head football coach of the UCLA Bruins. He played professionally as a running back for six seasons in the National Football League ...

were "bigger, stronger, faster, and better" than him. He graduated with a

psychology Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Its subject matter includes the behavior of humans and nonhumans, both consciousness, conscious and Unconscious mind, unconscious phenomena, and mental processes such as thoughts, feel ...

degree in 2002, working with the Bruins as a

graduate assistant A graduate assistant serves in a support role at a university, usually while completing post-graduate education. The assistant typically helps professors with instructional responsibilities as teaching assistants or with academic research resp ...

in football operations that season as a way to remain in the sport.

Career

Early scouting and executive roles

Peters' career began following a visit by

executives

Scott Pioli Scott Pioli (born March 31, 1965) is an American professional football executive who currently serves as a consultant for the Iowa Hawkeyes. He was an NFL analyst for NBC Sports' ''Football Night in America'', NBC Sports Network's Pro Football T ...

and

Jason Licht Jason Licht (; born February 13, 1971) is an American professional football executive who is the general manager of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers of the National Football League (NFL), a position he has held since 2014. Before joining the Bucs in 201 ...

to UCLA in 2002. Peters, substituting for his boss who was out of town, provided them film and other information on the school's

NFL draft The NFL draft, officially known as the Annual Player Selection Meeting, is an annual event which serves as the most common source of player recruitment in the National Football League. Each team is given a position in the drafting order in reve ...

prospects. Pioli hired him as a

scouting Scouting or the Scout Movement is a youth social movement, movement which became popularly established in the first decade of the twentieth century. It follows the Scout method of informal education with an emphasis on practical outdoor activi ...

assistant in time for the 2003

NFL Combine The NFL Scouting Combine is a week-long showcase occurring every February at Lucas Oil Stadium (and formerly at the RCA Dome until 2008) in Indianapolis, where college football players perform physical and mental tests in front of National Foot ...

after being impressed by his football acumen, with Peters temporarily moving in to live with scout

Nick Caserio Nicholas Caserio (born December 27, 1975) is an American professional football executive who is the executive vice president and general manager of the Houston Texans of the National Football League (NFL). Caserio began his NFL career as a coach ...

. As an assistant, he put together film of prospects, drove players to doctors and hospitals, and performed

data entry Data entry is the process of digitizing data by entering it into a computer system for organization and management purposes. It is a person-based process and is "one of the important basic" tasks needed when no machine-readable version of the in ...

until becoming an area scout in 2005. The Patriots made four

AFC Championship Game The AFC Championship Game is the annual championship game of the American Football Conference (AFC) and one of the two semifinal NFL playoffs, playoff games of the National Football League (NFL), the largest professional American football lea ...

appearances and won

Super Bowl XXXVIII Super Bowl XXXVIII was an American football game between the National Football Conference (NFC) champion 2003 Carolina Panthers season, Carolina Panthers and the American Football Conference (AFC) champion 2003 New England Patriots season, New E ...

and XXXIX during his tenure, with Peters leaving to join the

in January 2009 as he felt unable to rise further up working in a department that included future

general managers A general manager (GM) is an executive who has overall responsibility for managing both the revenue and cost elements of a company's income statement, known as profit & loss (P&L) responsibility. A general manager usually oversees most or all of t ...

in Licht, Caserio, Thomas Dimitroff, Bob Quinn, Jon Robinson, and

Monti Ossenfort Monti A. Ossenfort (born February 24, 1978) is an American professional football executive who is the general manager of the Arizona Cardinals of the National Football League (NFL). He began his NFL career as an intern for the Minnesota Vikings ...

. Peters worked as a regional and national scout with the Broncos prior to being promoted to assistant director of college scouting in July 2014. He was further promoted to director of college scouting in 2016, with Denver appearing in

Super Bowl XLVIII Super Bowl XLVIII was an American football game between the American Football Conference (AFC) champion 2013 Denver Broncos season, Denver Broncos and National Football Conference (NFC) champion 2013 Seattle Seahawks season, Seattle Seahawks to ...

and winning

Super Bowl 50 Super Bowl 50 was an American football game to determine the champion of the National Football League (NFL) for the 2015 season. The American Football Conference (AFC) champion Denver Broncos defeated the National Football Conference (NFC) ...

during his tenure.

San Francisco 49ers

Peters was named vice president of player personnel for the

on January 31, 2017. He was the first hire made by 49ers

(GM) John Lynch, who had no prior

front office The front office is the part of a company that comes in contact with clients, such as the marketing, sales, and service departments. The term has more specific meaning in different industries. Types General offices The function of front offic ...

experience; they had met after Lynch attended Broncos draft meetings as a guest the previous year. Peters was promoted to assistant GM on February 19, 2021. During his tenure, he assisted in the scouting of later-round draft selections such as

George Kittle George Krieger Kittle (born October 9, 1993) is an American professional football tight end for the San Francisco 49ers of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Iowa Hawkeyes and was selected by the 49ers in the f ...

, Fred Warner, Dre Greenlaw,

Talanoa Hufanga Talanoa Hufanga ( ; born February 1, 2000) is an American professional football safety for the Denver Broncos of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the USC Trojans and was selected by the San Francisco 49ers in the ...

, and

Brock Purdy Brock Purdy (born December 27, 1999) is an American professional American football, football quarterback for the San Francisco 49ers of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Iowa State Cyclones football, Iowa St ...

that helped the 49ers appear in four

NFC Championship Game The NFC Championship Game is the annual championship game of the National Football Conference (NFC) and one of the two semifinal National Football League playoffs, playoff games of the National Football League (NFL), the largest professional Ame ...

s and Super Bowls LIV and LVIII.

Washington Commanders

Peters was named general manager of the

on January 15, 2024. He hired Dan Quinn as head coach and overhauled the team's roster, headlined by selecting quarterback

Jayden Daniels Jayden Daniels (born December 18, 2000) is an American professional American football, football quarterback for the Washington Commanders of the National Football League (NFL). Daniels is considered a dual-threat player, being adept at both pa ...

second overall in the

2024 NFL draft The 2024 NFL draft was the 89th annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible players. The draft was held at Campus Martius Park and Hart Plaza in Detroit on April 25–27, 2024. The draft had an attendanc ...

. In Peters' first season, the Commanders recorded their highest win total () and first

appearance since

1991 It was the final year of the Cold War, which had begun in 1947. During the year, the Soviet Union Dissolution of the Soviet Union, collapsed, leaving Post-soviet states, fifteen sovereign republics and the Commonwealth of Independent State ...

Personal life

Peters is married to Jennifer Peters; the couple have two daughters. Growing up in the

San Francisco Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, commonly known as the Bay Area, is a List of regions of California, region of California surrounding and including San Francisco Bay, and anchored by the cities of Oakland, San Francisco, and San Jose, California, S ...

, he was inspired by former 49ers tight end

Brent Jones Brent Michael Jones (born February 12, 1963) is an American former professional football player, business executive, businessman, coach, and sports analyst. As a player, he was a tight end for the San Francisco 49ers during his entire 11-year c ...

to play the position.

References

External links

Washington Commanders profile

UCLA Bruins profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Peters, Adam 1979 births 20th-century American sportsmen American football defensive ends American football tight ends Denver Broncos executives Denver Broncos scouts Living people NFL general managers New England Patriots scouts Players of American football from Santa Clara County, California San Francisco 49ers executives San Francisco 49ers scouts Sportspeople from Cupertino, California Sportspeople from Mountain View, California UCLA Bruins football players Washington Commanders executives Washington Commanders scouts West Valley Vikings football players