What are the best and almost great moments of Dan Snyder’s turbulent ownership of the Washington Commanders spanning more than two decades?
In 1967, three years after Daniel Marc Snyder was born, the Hollies had a modest hit, penned by Graham Nash after a visit to the United States. Nash couldn’t have known how incisive these lyrics would be in describing the tortured, tumultuous 24-year period in which Dan Snyder would own the Washington Commanders:
“He’s not the man to hold your trust
Everything he touches turns to dust….
He’s King Midas with a curse
He’s King Midas in reverse.”
There will be a lot written about the Snyder years now that the end is upon us. I’m setting out today to choose the four best moments from that era, and I’ve got to tell you, it ain’t easy.
It’s borderline Sisyphean. Much like King Midas in reverse, it seems like even the good things that Snyder may have done – or perhaps wanted to do – ultimately turned to dust.
I’ll give you a brief example – something I will not be using as part of the list, but which spells out the problem rather neatly. In 2014, Snyder, with great fanfare, announced the launch of the WROAF. This was not a foundation dedicated to honoring Pro Football Hall of Famer Willie Roaf. If it were, I could tell you what the acronym stands for. It would stand for Willie Roaf.
But this particular WROAF had a name that journalistic standards and practices on this site – and most others – prohibit me from typing in its entirety. It stood for “Washington (name redacted) Original Americans Foundation.” And it was, at least initially, a good idea.
Snyder was attempting to deflect attention from the storm clouds forming around the team’s decades-old nickname by pouring money into charity. In the first year of its existence, 2015, Native American organizations received $3.7 million dollars in donations from the franchise.
I don’t care what the motivations were. That’s a lot of much-needed money going to worthy causes.
But as with almost everything Snyder has done with the Commanders, the bloom fell from the rose very quickly. Subsequent years saw donations drop at a rate of about 50 percent per year until in 2018, that contribution had shrunk from $3.7 million to $303,000.
In 2019, it was zero.
Such has been life in Snyder’s reign. Problems are addressed through flashy PR moves, with little planning, patience, or follow-through. The results, even on the rare occasion that the initial idea was sound, have ranged from disappointment to disaster.
So I caution you before beginning. These are not necessarily happy memories. And these are the highlights – the best (sort of) moments of Snyder’s ownership.
Commanders hired Scot McCloughan as GM
OK – I can hear you already. You’re choking on bile. How could hiring a man who is largely perceived as a failed general manager by most fans be considered a highlight?
It’s because of what the hiring represented.
For the first time in his ownership, Dan Snyder seemed willing to entrust his organization to an actual general manager. Not to a coach who would also serve as one – a set-up that usually fails.
Not to a sycophantic crony who had no more business running a team’s football operations than the French Bulldog next door. No, Scot McCloughan had pedigree. Unfortunately, he also had demons.
McCloughan arrived in town touted as the personnel whiz who helped build the Seattle Seahawks into a powerhouse. He found tough, productive players, especially on defense. Best of all, he had no obvious ties to the owner.
It looked for a brief moment like Snyder had learned an important lesson about letting the football people make the football decisions.
The two drafts which McCloughan oversaw are viewed as washouts by many fans, but in truth, they weren’t that bad. If you slap the two together, it actually makes for one excellent draft.
First round – Brandon Scherff, second round – Preston Smith (who led the league in sacks by a rookie in his first year), third round – Kendall Fuller, fourth round – Jamison Crowder, fifth round – Matt Ioannidis, and seventh-round – Austin Reiter (who has won Super Bowls both starting and backing up with the Kansas City Chiefs).
Unfortunately, he also has to account for total busts like Josh Doctson and Matt Jones, as well as the bizarre story of Su’a Cravens, who it turns out, was a second-round pick who simply didn’t want to play football.
Even worse was McCloughan’s alcoholism, which led to a rather abrupt ending to his brief stint with the now Washington Commanders. But the idea – the idea was right. Snyder was prepared to relinquish at least some control to someone with pedigree. He just chose the wrong someone.
Commanders traded up for Robert Griffin III
Again, I can hear you. The 2012 trade-up to select Robert Griffin III at pick No. 2 is considered by many to be the worst trade in franchise history. If you go by the outcome, that’s a reasonable case. But I contend that the move itself was not the problem.
It actually was a very good trade. True, the Washington Commanders gave up a king’s ransom – three firsts and a second. But they got their franchise quarterback who won NFL Rookie of the Year and led the team to the playoffs.
Adrian Peterson and Peyton Manning had other-worldly seasons in 2012, and you could make the case that Griffin was just as good. You have to go back to Sammy Baugh in 1937 to find a rookie quarterback who had as good a first year for the Commanders.
And when you consider what the St Louis Rams did with all that draft capital, the trade itself becomes even better-looking. They moved a few of the pieces in subsequent years and essentially came out of the deal with eight players. Of them, Alec Ogletree and Janoris Jenkins were pretty good defensive players. Zac Stacy had a very good rookie season and then disappeared. A few of the others became role players.
Would you trade that for a franchise quarterback? I think so.
Dan Snyder showed with that trade that he was willing to take risks. He was willing to make bold moves to acquire a great quarterback.
His previous infatuations with veterans like Jeff George and Donovan McNabb were train wrecks, so he pivoted to throwing the dice on a kid. And unlike the situation with Scot McCloughan, this time, they had the right guy.
Yes – the trade itself was not the problem. It’s just that virtually every single decision regarding Griffin after the draft was dead wrong.
The organization that Snyder built – with its sketchy chain of command and back-channel communication between owner and star player, sabotaged Griffin and the entire organization. But that’s for a different article – one about all the things the billionaire did wrong.
The trade for Griffin was actually something he got right. Even though it turned out so badly.
Dan Snyder spent money as Commanders owner
Dan Snyder was about as different as he could be from the man who preceded him as owner, Jack Kent Cooke. But one thing they had in common is that they were not stingy.
Snyder, especially early on, was always willing to spend money on players.
As with everything related to Snyder’s ownership, this had the reverse King Midas effect, because spending on the wrong players does a lot of damage. And boy did he find some of those.
The Adam Archuletta contract is still the biggest head-scratcher of all because the player simply was not very good. But admit it – when Bruce Smith and Deion Sanders came to town, you were excited, weren’t you?
I know it sounds ludicrous today. But I remember how happy we all were when our owner went out a grabbed Albert Haynesworth before anybody else even picked up the phone.
These were mostly bad decisions, but wasn’t it nice to be in the mix for star players? Wasn’t it better to have an owner who would rev up the jet and open the checkbook? Would you rather have Bill Bidwell, instead?
When things began to sour in the early years, especially under Steve Spurrier, that was the refrain you’d hear from Snyder supporters. The man truly wants to bring a winner to Washington Commanders fans.
I believe that to be true. Unfortunately, he also wanted to make headlines by assembling a fantasy football team of star players, and he never really figured out that those two goals often work against each other.
It’s a hard lesson for an egotistical man. I’d suggest that Jerry Jones has been struggling with the same lesson ever since Jimmy Johnson left the Dallas Cowboys.
Snyder did not build infrastructure. Commanders’ facilities have never been good. He has rarely identified and nurtured young talent in coaching or administration. But he was willing to spend money, and he should get some credit for that.
He just spent it on the wrong things.
Commanders hired Joe Gibbs
On January 8, 2004, Dan Snyder introduced Joe Gibbs as the new coach of the now-Washington Commanders. It was the biggest story in the area – not just the biggest sports story. It was national news.
It was the one truly unquestioned feel-good moment in the entire ownership of Snyder. After an 11-year absence, the savior was returning.
The hiring of Gibbs highlighted everything good about Snyder: his love of franchise history, his magical salesmanship, his willingness to make bold moves, and his willingness to spend big.
The four years under Gibbs’ second regime were far from perfect. There were plenty of missteps. The Archuletta deal went down. Future Pro Football Hall of Famer Champ Bailey was traded.
By Gibbs’ final season, coordinator Gregg Williams looked like a petty tyrant whose delusions of grandeur led to a defensive implosion.
Still, Gibbs took the team to the playoffs twice in his four seasons and actually won a playoff game. January 7, 2006, at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, the team now known as the Commanders defeated the Buccaneers 17-10 in a wildcard clash. It was a contest that saw safety Sean Taylor score a touchdown, and the defense dominate.
It was one of two playoff victories in Snyder’s tenure as owner. The other came in his first season, under a coach he wanted to fire, and was really more of a defiant statement against the owner than a sign of approval.
For a brief moment, it did indeed look like the glory days were set to return. Snyder had learned a lot. He had gotten his coach. Things were never brighter, at least not under this owner.
Alas, it was all an illusion.
The Commanders would lose decisively the following week against the Seattle Seahawks. Gibbs would retire for good after another futile season. Things returned to what they would always be under Snyder – a morass of frustration in which brief flickers of light were quickly extinguished, all trundling toward an ugly end.
King Midas in reverse was back in charge.