A.J. Francis takes strange parting shot at the Redskins and their logo

A.J. Francis was vocal about his departure from the Washington Redskins, and called out the team and their logo after he was cut.

Who would have thought that A.J. Francis would have so much to say about the Redskins? The reserve lineman, who has been with the squad for the past two seasons primarily as a member of the practice squad, was cut from the team’s 90-man roster following the 2018 NFL Draft. He was a casualty after the team drafted Da’Ron Payne and Tim Settle, and it seemed impossible for him to make the final roster.

Upon being cut, Francis didn’t stay on the free agent market for long. Francis landed with the New York Giants. As outlined earlier in the week, this was a sensible landing spot for Francis given the team’s shift to a 3-4 defense. Still, it will be a challenge for him to make the final roster because of the young talent that the Giants added in the draft.

On Instagram, Francis took a moment to take an unwarranted parting shot at the Redskins. Here’s his original post.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BiSGS4HFpOP/?utm_source=ig_embed

Now, it makes sense that Francis might be upset about being cut. But claiming that the Redskins didn’t appreciate him seems odd.

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Francis played in six games with the Redskins in 2017 after he joined the team from the practice squad. That tripled the amount of games he had played in since coming into the league as an undrafted free agent in 2013. In an injury plagued campaign, Francis emerged as a contributor on the defensive line, and he logged a career high 18 combined tackles. However, he only had five solo stops and generally only looked like a backup nose tackle at best.

Again, given that Payne and Settle are both going to be able to play nose tackle with the Redskins, and the team already has Phil Taylor, having Francis made little sense. Cutting him was the right move.

But, as evidenced by Francis’ Instagram, he doesn’t think so. And that’s fine. Players should have confidence in their abilities, but perhaps instead of insulting the Redskins front office for parting ways with him, he should focus on trying to make the Giants roster. As I said, he has an uphill battle to make the squad, and the post also burns bridges.

In the event that the Redskins suffered an injury at nose tackle and Francis was on the market, they could have re-signed him to patch the weakness. But after these comments, they probably won’t. It’s never a smart thing to get rid of an option, especially when there are limited gigs available for a player like Francis.

As for his comments on the logo being racist, that’s a debate for another day. Francis does have a point, but as long as Dan Snyder is in charge of the team, that name will most likely remain in place.

Next: Analyzing the Redskins veteran defensive linemen

At the end of the day, this post by Francis doesn’t accomplish much. It just seems like an odd thing to do, especially considering that the Redskins gave him a two year window to improve himself. Perhaps he will play well in New York, but he wouldn’t have had a role in Washington anyway. So in the grand scheme of things, this post seems unnecessary.

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