There are plenty of reasons to criticize Washington Football Team owner Dan Snyder, from his reluctance to change the team’s former and blatantly racist mascot to the multiple sexual harassment scandals inside the organization.
And former Washington coach Jay Gruden has some of his own.
In a Washington Post story published Friday about the team’s vice president of player personnel, Kyle Smith, taking the same job with the Atlanta Falcons, Gruden offered the latest criticism of Snyder.
Explaining Smith’s responsibilities in leading Washington’s NFL Draft meetings, The Post described him as “an integral voice” in the room. But while Gruden praised Smith, he also noted that sometimes it didn’t matter because Snyder “would come in off his yacht and make the pick” regardless of what others thought was best for the team.
“Every year that I was there, we had a pretty good draft class, with a couple exceptions,” former coach Jay Gruden said. “[Smith] was really good about listening to the coaches because the coaches also did evaluations. … When it came our time to pick, we’d always talk about the picks, where we’d like to go, what happens if [the player] is gone, and did all our scenarios. And then [owner Daniel Snyder] would come in off his yacht and make the pick.”
Although Gruden isn’t quoted explicitly saying this, it’s reasonable to assume he’s talking about Washington’s 2019 first-round draft pick, Dwayne Haskins. Snyder insisted the team selecting the former Ohio State quarterback with the No. 15 overall pick, despite most of the team’s coaches and executives saying otherwise, The Post reported in a story about the team releasing Haskins less than two years after he was drafted.
(In 2019 prior to the NFL Draft, Snyder purchased a $100 million, 305-foot yacht that includes an Imax theater.)
Haskins is now with the Pittsburgh Steelers, and Smith is off to Atlanta. But Snyder is still with the Washington Football Team — despite plenty of fans wishing, for one reason or another, he’d sell and move on.
