It’s time for big change

December 12, 2019

by Steve Thomas

It’s time for Daniel Snyder to stand up and make bold, wholesale changes in his organization.  This franchise has embarrassed itself yet again, one too many times for a fan base beaten down by years of humiliation on the field, high prices at a run-down stadium, and franchise leadership that seemingly takes the fans for granted.  This isn’t new for 2018; it has been the same thing, year after year. After 20 years, this team is still getting in trouble for things like allegedly having cheerleaders moonlight as semi-professional escorts and claiming an accused domestic abuser who came to Redskins Park straight from jail.  Clearly, management hasn’t learned a thing.  I don’t necessarily have faith that ownership is going to make the right move, but it is well past time to try.

There is a cycle to the Redskins.  We go through a year or two of absolutely awful, followed by mediocre, and one year at most of moderate respectability.  Then chaos happens.  A new coach is put in place, hopes are raised for a year or two, and then it starts over again.  Wash rinse repeat.

The corporate rot starts at the top, of course, but this column isn’t going to be about ownership. Everyone needs to understand that ownership isn’t going anywhere, and while criticizing Mr. Snyder may make you feel good, it’s ultimately pointless.  The real way to fix this organization is to start at the team president position.  I understand that Bruce Allen has a Redskins family legacy, and Mr. Snyder likes that about him.  We all liked that about him when Allen came here, but he’s the one who’s presided over countless messes, both on field and off.  Allen has publicly proclaimed himself to be in charge on numerous occasions.  He owns this horror show and needs to be held accountable.

Therefore, what I would suggest to Mr. Snyder to fix the franchise once and for all is to, number one, get rid of Bruce Allen.  That’s not a revelation.  When I say get rid of him, I mean he needs to exit the organization.  I realize that it might be to Mr. Snyder’s liking to keep him around in some capacity or another, but for the sake of organizational health and well-being, Allen needs to exit stage left.  At this point most of the fans, the local established media, and independent media sites like ours are calling for his head; whether Snyder will listen is another matter.

Allen leaving won’t matter if the wrong person is brought in to replace him.  The fundamental problem with replacing this is that the Redskins have a terrible reputation amongst NFL insiders.  They’ve seen what has gone on here essentially since the death of Jack Kent Cooke.  It is apparent that this franchise just is not respected, so whether a quality replacement would be willing to come to DC is anyone’s guess.  There’s not much anyone can do about that right now.  Mr. Snyder should do his best to find the right person and give him or her a chance to rebuild.  Money usually talks, and Snyder may have to overpay to get a good person in here.

When I say rebuild, I mean from the absolute ground up.  There truly should not be a single person in the organization beyond the receptionist who feels safe.  Dan Snyder needs to find an outsider, not a Redskins legend, and not someone with prior ties to the organization.  The new team president needs to be a person who is a respected sports business professional who has not been a part of nor has any connection whatsoever to the disaster that has gone on in Ashburn over the last 20 plus years.  Nobody who’s been hanging around Redskins Park is going to be able to do the job.

I wish I knew who that person was.  I may do some research into this topic in a future column, but for now just know that this first step is the only way a real cure is going to happen.  Then, after that takes place, that new team president needs to be given full rein to restock the entire organization.  He or she needs to be given authority to select a president of business operations, whether Brian Lafemina or someone else, and her or she needs to be allowed to pick a true general manager with full authority to run football operations.  Perhaps Doug Williams is that guy; maybe it is Eric Schaefer, or perhaps someone else entirely.  I don’t know, and I would suggest to you that you don’t either.  Please, by all means feel free to root for whoever you want.  I don’t mean to dictate the scope of your fandom to you, but the cold hard truth is that a new team president is the only one who should have an input into how the football and business sides of the team are built.

In my view there is no point to this current front office hiring a new coach.  That isn’t going to bring about true, fundamental change.  Once again, you’re free to root for whoever you want to root for as the next coach, but I’m here to tell you that it doesn’t really matter unless the correct leadership team is put in place.  New team president, then new general manager, then new coach, then players.  That’s the only order that will result in success.  No more Jim Zorn-like selections of coaches out of order.  We’ve seen that fail too many times.

As far as the players on this team go, the only ones who are truly worth building around are Jonathan Allen, Daron Payne, Brandon Scherff, and Derrius Guice.  Other than that, I’m not going to lose sleep over any of the rest of them being cut or traded.  These players showed this past weekend against the Giants that they have no heart, are quitters, and that it just is not going to work as presently constructed.  The new general manager should follow Jon Gruden’s lead and trade absolutely every player year he can for draft picks.  Everyone but those 4 players I mentioned should feel unsafe.

I don’t think what I propose is an overreaction, all things considered.  In fact, I think most of you probably agree with me.  The big question is whether the owner has both the understanding and courage of his convictions to actually do this.  After all, the very man that needs to be fired first is his closest adviser.  I would suggest to you that Mr. Snyder’s business partners, the minority owners, need to get into his ear and demand wholesale changes.  While the team can survive one or two years of down attendance, ultimately the big money sponsorships are going to start to dry up if fan apathy builds into a crescendo and the population of the greater Washington DC area turns permanently away from the team that has dominated the local sports landscape for more than a generation.  That’s a very sad possibility to me, and I don’t want to see that happen, but it’s coming if something isn’t done.

It’s time for change, Mr. Snyder. Not small change. Not incremental change. Massive, organizational upheaval kind of change. Do it. It might hurt, but I promise it’s for the best.