Commanders clinch the No. 2 pick in the draft with their season ending loss to the Cowboys

LANDOVER, Md. (AP) — The Washington Commanders clinched the No. 2 pick in the NFL draft with their season ending 38 10 loss to the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday. That gives the expected next regime in charge the opportunity to select one of the top two quarterback prospects expected to be available: or .

Chicago owns the No. 1 pick. The Commanders finished 4 13 after losing their final eight games, a stretch that included coach Ron Rivera and on defense. Washington lost all six of those games to tie the franchise record for the most defeats in a season. Rivera, who celebrated his 62nd birthday Sunday, and many others are Monday as makes wholesale changes to the front office and coaching staff.

Rivera, who has been in charge of football operations for , said Friday plans to split the personnel and head coaching roles moving forward. That's probably for the best after Rivera's tenure produced just one playoff appearance — a loss — and left very few building blocks for the future.

This season was meant to be a he can be the franchise's QB moving forward, and he became Washington's first player to at the position since Kirk Cousins in 2017. It did not go as planned for Howell or , who came to the Commanders in part and whose future is also murky. Howell on Sunday threw two more interceptions to give him a league high 21 this season and was sacked four more times to make it a league high 65 over 17 games.

Washington went 26 40 1 with Rivera, who fell to 102 103 2 in his coaching career, which began with nearly a decade in Carolina before in 2019. ___ AP NFL:.