Daniel Snyder had only been the newfound owner of the then-Washington Redskins a few months when suddenly I was dumbfounded.
The news was breaking, and Washington general manager Charley Casserly was resigning. “What? What is going on?”
Never did I imagine the next 23 seasons would bring loads of frustration and consternation, but yes, I was old enough (age 36) and had followed the team closely enough, I was somewhat puzzled by this new development.
“We led the league in scoring. We were second in defensive points allowed. You have to go back to the 1940s to find a championship team that won games by as many points on an average as we did.” Charley Casserly, Super Bowl 26, 30th anniversary #WashingtonFootball pic.twitter.com/abLurO2BBf
— thom loverro (@thomloverro) January 26, 2022
More flags were raised for me when it was announced that day that Casserly would actually still be a consultant for Snyder. “Is this young guy firing Casserly but paying him to be his consultant?”
Of course, I had no idea that for the next 23 seasons, there would be no actual general manager who had ultimate authority in football decisions ranging from who gets drafted, and signed as an unrestricted free agent to hiring and firing the head coach.
Even more mystifying was the fact that his firing/resignation/reassigning of Casserly transpired only a couple of days prior to the 1999 Washington training camp launching.
“Wait, would Charley Casserly actually wait to resign only a couple of days prior to training camp?”
Honestly, I had no clue how bad it would be for the next 23 years. However, looking back, I absolutely did think, “If no health concerns were found in the next months regarding Casserly, then only at age 50, Casserly did not resign but was being moved out of the front office.”
Never did I dream it was because Daniel Snyder was actually going to interfere in the football decisions many times in his tenure as owner. I had no way of recognizing this guy was actually thinking he could be an effective NFL GM.
Of course, I did believe the initial statement Snyder made at the press conference that he realized Turner and Casserly could no longer work together.
But beginning the next offseason, I was immediately uncomfortable when he began to play general manager, signing older veterans to massive contracts and overpaying them. Then I knew we have a serious problem. I do vividly recall in 2000 being disappointed and worried about the future.
But of course, I STILL had no idea how serious the problem would grow to be over the next 23 seasons. But that is another story for another day.