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“There have been some really terrible owners in the National Football League.”
That is how NFL Network’s Rich Eisen began a segment of his “Rich Eisen Show” Thursday.
Eisen also inquired, “Put it all together, is Dan Snyder the worst owner in the history of the National Football League?”
Well, of course, that would take extensive research throughout the history of the NFL, and Eisen certainly doesn’t have time to undertake such a huge task. Neither should we contemporaries simplistically declare that we “know” Snyder is the worst owner in NFL history.
Certainly, Snyder will be rightly criticized for his wrongly getting involved in football decisions. His zeal, though sincere, led to grievous mistakes and errors in judgment. Leading examples are the Albert Haynesworth signing, the class of 2000 free agent signings where he grossly overpaid each of those players, his siding with self-absorbed Robert Griffin over a knowledgeable coaching staff, and insisting his football staff draft Dwayne Haskins when other players on their draft board were wiser selections in the first round of the 2019 NFL draft.
Yet, Snyder certainly paid his players well. He certainly treated many players well, not only during the regular seasons but also in the offseason, when he chose to help several of them in various ways.
Where is the record of Snyder ever choosing to single out players or mistreat players all because they were not of his ethnicity? Daniel Snyder was no racist.
Yes, certainly, the accusation that he inappropriately touched a couple of women should be taken seriously. Yet, shouldn’t it also be remembered the lack of witnesses to substantiate these accusations? The accusations may be true, yes. They also may be just as untrue. The truth is, we don’t know.
Yes, Daniel Snyder is right to be blamed for much of the wrong for which he is blamed during his unsuccessful ownership of the Washington NFL franchise.
However, Snyder will also be demonized. He will be made the scapegoat for everything that went wrong. He will be the fall guy, the stooge, the schmuck. Yes, often he was. But consider all the comedy of errors from the business side in the last couple of seasons. Consider Snyder didn’t coach or play during all these losing seasons. There is enough blame to go around.
Snyder doesn’t appear to have been a Donald Sterling, nor on par with George Preston Marshall, who was the last NFL owner to integrate.
But yes, certainly, we are glad to see Snyder move on from the franchise, and we hope this means more winning seasons for the Commanders.
But let’s keep this all in perspective, shall we?