Could there be trouble brewing inside Redskins Park between Washington Redskins owner Dan Snyder and team president Bruce Allen?
According to Redskins’ insider Chris Russell, the answer is yes and to the point Snyder is “furious” with Allen over the recent public negative views on the franchise.
“This is going to be an interesting thing to watch out for,” Russell told The Sports Junkies on 106.7 the Fan, Wednesday morning. “I’m told that Dan is furious with Bruce. He is very, very, very frustrated with the leadership of the organization and the constant embarrassments, PR-wise. Of course, not winning enough to justify anything on the field. The [Scot] McCloughan situation. Bypassing better coaches, i.e. Wade Phillips. That type of thing. It’s been a cumulative thing.”
Another huge issue for Dan, according to Russell, is how the Kirk Cousins contract saga played out. Snyder was in favor of getting a long-term deal done, but the situation ended with the Redskins ultimately acquiring Alex Smith from the Kansas City Chiefs in a trade that cost them a promising defensive back in slot corner Kendall Fuller.
“Maybe this hasn’t been that public, but Dan was — after an initial, ‘eh, let’s wait and see’ — Dan was very much in favor of getting a long-term deal done with Kirk Cousins,” Russell said, “and grew increasingly frustrated with all of these episodes, all of this drama, all of the bad PR, all the fan backlash, all of the media backlash. And make no mistake about it, media backlash does count in that building.”
Sure, Snyder was one of the guys that wanted to see Cousins repeat his 2015 performance in which he set the franchise record with 4,166 yards. However, Cousins backed that up after receiving a franchise tag in 2016 with 4,933 passing yards. And after receiving a second franchise tag mark, threw for 4,093 yards in a season he lost three of his top targets to injuries and his previous two top wide receivers, DeSean Jackson and Pierre Garcon, to free agency.
Nevertheless, Cousins eventually going to Minnesota was just one of the issues Snyder reportedly has with Allen. If Snyder sees no improvements which includes an improve wins-loss record among a number of things, Allen could be reassigned to oversee the new stadium development while Senior VP of Football Operations/General Counsel Eric Schaffer could take over the player personnel duties.
Fans and media have been split over the Cousins’ saga, but majority agree that the Redskins could use a better option at GM duties. The Redskins botched the Cousins situation in the beginning and was always playing catch-up, the Scot McCloughan debacle, and lost out on good coaches like Wade Phillips, who ironically won a Super Bowl with the Denver Broncos in 2015 after the Redskins head coach Jay Gruden opted for Joe Barry as defensive coordinator. Phillips and Barry are now part of the Los Angeles Rams coaching staff that head coach Sean McVay was the Redskins offensive coordinator in 2016. Going into the season, the Rams’ prognosis is much greater than the Redskins.
Certainly, there will be questions and backlash for Russell’s report. But the past reports of Snyder being frustrated with the direction of the team has resulted in change like the firing of Mike Shanahan and Jim Zorn.
The Redskins have had a lackluster off-season outside of acquiring Smith. They’ve moved cautiously despite the extra cap space saved by letting Cousins walk in free agency. Depending on who you ask, that’s not necessarily a terrible thing. However, the aspirations that fans and media held with the pending Cousins’ departure has yet to be fulfilled. Ending the QB saga won’t end the drama that normally surrounds the Redskins. In fact, it will drum up even more intrigue into the 2018 season and if things don’t go well, it could be the end of the rope for some within the organization.
