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The final ten-day countdown has begun.
NFL owners will meet on July 20 for a scheduled gathering where they will vote for the affirmation of the sale of the Washington Commanders from Daniel and Tanya Snyder to a multitude of owners headed by Josh Harris.
Snyder took over ownership of the Washington NFL franchise in 1999, and 2022 was his last season of ownership. In a surprise move last fall, Snyder suddenly was going to look into selling the once-proud and successful franchise.
When Snyder did not show up for the Sonny Jurgensen jersey being retired, and Snyder had his office in Ashburn cleaned out before the final game, it was confirmed, Snyder really was moving on.
There have been plenty of bad moves by Snyder over the years, and Commanders Wire has chronicled many.
He will be criticized — and heavily. There is no question much of that is deserved. It was a bad ending for Charley Casserly, Norv Turner, Marty Schottenheimer, Steve Spurrier.
It was Snyder who, for whatever reason, hired Jim Zorn as offensive coordinator, dooming Snyder’s search for a head coach. No one wanting the job, Snyder ended up elevating Zorn to head coach, though he had yet to be an NFL coordinator. It was embarrassing.
He sided with an immature quarterback over a great offensive coaching staff, and when the quarterback couldn’t develop into an NFL pocket passer, Snyder then fired the head coach. Seven years later, he forced his football people to draft another immature quarterback. Again it failed, and backfired.
He and Bruce Allen were so smug as a pair it was harmful to the organization. They certainly mishandled Kirk Cousins, and the franchise has yet to have a winning record since the quarterback was Cousins.
Snyder did, however, bring back Joe Gibbs in his greatest achievement as owner. Gibbs had a heart for the franchise, hated seeing the team struggle, and risked so much of his history and reputation in returning. Yet, Gibbs’s leadership was indeed masterful as the team rebounded to earn two playoff births in his last three seasons.
The team has not won a playoff game since Gibbs 2.0.
In the end, the default for most will be to absolutely demonize Snyder. No, he was not successful. But no, he was not entirely responsible for all of the dysfunction from the business side of operations we have witnessed the last few years either.
It’s true… everything rises and falls on leadership.