It was another busy day for the Washington Commanders, and we aren’t even talking about head coach Ron Rivera officially naming Taylor Heinicke the starting quarterback in place of the injured Carson Wentz.
In case you haven’t heard, Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay sent shockwaves across the NFL when he declared the following at the NFL owner’s meetings Tuesday:
“I believe there is merit to removing him as owner,” Irsay said of Commanders owner Daniel Snyder.
It didn’t take long for the Commanders to respond.
At some point on Tuesday, Snyder sent a letter to fellow owners in response to some of the allegations levied against him in the ESPN. Here is a copy of the letter, per a team spokesperson:
Dear ,
I hope that you and your family are doing well.
I would like to address a recent ESPN article that contains false and malicious statements about the Washington Commanders, our management team, and me and my family. It is particularly shameful for ESPN to diminish the very real accomplishments of our President Jason Wright, who ESPN alleges was placed at the Commanders by the League and has no power to make real change. I know you know this to be false. Unfortunately, ESPN ignored our efforts to correct the many falsehoods in their article before its publication.
There is one allegation in the ESPN article that I feel it is important to address immediately. The article cited unnamed sources who said: “They’ve been told that Snyder instructed his law firms to hire private investigators to look into other owners” and Commissioner Goodell. That is patently false and intended to erode the trust and goodwill between owners that I take quite seriously. I have never hired any private investigator to look into any owner or the Commissioner. I have never instructed or authorized my lawyers to hire any private investigator on my behalf for any such purpose. And I never would.
While we all are fierce competitors on the field, we are a part of this organization because we love football, our teams and our fans. Having the privilege to own a franchise in America’s sport is something I know none of us take for granted. Falsehoods and lies being spread about any of our organizations hurts our League, our players and our fans, and we simply cannot let them go unchallenged.
Thank you for taking the time to read this. If you have any questions, Tanya and I are always available to answer them, and we look forward to discussing these issues with you at the appropriate time.
Sincerely,
Dan Snyder