Mark R Bacon—Main Event Sports DC
An owner has more impact on an NFL team than what meets they eye. When looking at an owner’s “performance” it is important to consider the financial state of the team, its marketability, and of course, how things are doing on the football side of things.
It is an owner’s job to make sure they have quality people in place to take care of both the business and football side of things, and failure to recognize necessary changes (or too much change) is no one’s fault but theirs.
Just because a team is winning does not mean they are well-owned, although winning certainly can help cover many of an owner’s shortcomings.
There is one NFL owners who needs to move on from NFL ownership.
That individual is Dan Snyder. No other owner in the league can be as directly tied to a team’s shortcomings as him.
Snyder, who knows less about football than a casual fan, mettles in football operations, failing almost every step of the way. He gave big money to guys like Adam Archuleta and Jason Taylor, only to fail to produce on the football field.
He fired 30 employees in his first month of ownership. Redskins fans began to express their hatred of Snyder on message boards, so he bought them. Fans turned to talk radio to express their anger, so he went ahead and bought that, too.
He sued a 73-year-old woman for not being able to pay for her season tickets on time. The woman has had the tickets for over 50 years, and was unable to pay because the economic collapse hit her hard.
He sued a Washington Post writer that brought to light many of his atrocities. He has since dropped the charges.
Redskins Park these days looks like less like a football facility and more like East Berlin during the Cold War.
Snyder’s mismanagement and ignorance was brilliantly illustrated with the fateful Albert Haynesworth signing, which may go down as the worst free agency signing in NFL history. The move got just about everyone fired and was a perfect symbol for the ineptitude of the Snyder era.
Snyder has since claimed to be taking a backseat, hiring a general manager, who is essentially a no-nothing sycophant and all around toady: Bruce Allen. He should be fired immediately too. The Redskins are now the worst NFL franchise by light years, and why they’re even playing out this season is incomprehensible. Snyder has done enough to prove that he is simply in the wrong business. The League should force him to divest in the once proud model franchise, he has run into the toilet.