If it sounded familiar in the last week or so for the president of the Washington Football Team to stand before the public and take the bullet for his silent, hiding superiors, it’s because it is.
Three years ago, after the team claimed linebacker Reuben Foster off waivers only days after a domestic violence arrest, it was left to vice president and franchise legend Doug Williams to issue the statement to the fans and media explaining and justifying it.
Not the team owner, Daniel Snyder.
Not Bruce Allen, his right-hand man at the time and the ultimate decision-maker on football matters and recipient of Jon Gruden’s now-infamous emails.
No, it was done by those underneath them, something this franchise has become too comfortable doing and another that it will face a reckoning for one of these days.
The problem is who falls on their sword for the organization, the most recent sacrificial lamb being team president, Jason Wright.
Wright issued the apology for the botched timing and announcement of the ceremony honoring Sean Taylor.
Wright should not have been under the wheels of the bus for that one, but that’s where he landed.
And if and when the smoke clears on all the wreckage surrounding that franchise, don’t act shocked if Wright gets sacrificed again.
Jason Wright has been one of the two faces of the franchise’s overhaul the last two seasons. The reconstruction of the image, operation and culture of a team has continued to be a blight on a league that itself has been a growing blight on the sports landscape.
Continue reading over at First and Pen.
Originally posted 2021-10-27 10:00:00.
