There are some people who are having a hard time reconciling that Josh Harris is in the Commanders’ interviews with QBs at the NFL Draft, thinking it’s too much at best and Dan Snyder 2.0 at worst.
And here’s a Danny Rouhier rant alert…he’s one of them.
“What I've heard throughout the day on radio shows that I respect, from people that I respect and whose opinions I value whether I agree or disagree, is that if you were in charge of any operation and you had a hiring that was this major, you'd sit in there, totally fine that he’s there,” Danny said. “Now, I like Josh Harris a lot. His best quality is that he's not Dan Snyder. Dan Snyder sucks, Josh Harris does not – but I want you to imagine that you were a fan of a football team, and now I'm gonna tell you your owner is sitting in on quarterback interviews, not just sitting in for observational purposes but he's involved. Now I’m gonna tell you that’s Jim Irsay or the Ford family or whoever – feel good about it?”
So yeah, Danny thinks it’s a bad idea for anyone, but the reason we’re all excusing it is because we like Harris.
“Here's why we are all talking ourselves into it and accepting it: because we like the guy. It's pretty simple: when we like somebody, we excuse whatever it is, and come up with very quick justifications,” Danny said. “You're gonna hear the same refrains throughout the day.”
Danny gave an example of Jon Allen having to recant an “uncomfortable answer” about the team, but because we like Allen and he apologized, ‘we moved on because the net balance is way into the positive for Allen” – but the same gravitas was not given to Jack Del Rio.
“We love Josh Harris right now and we should, because he got us out of the abyss, and I will love the Harris ownership group until they give me years of reasons not to,” Danny said. “I will be more patient than all of you this coming season, because they're trying to build something for you guys.
But no one’s gonna hear this part: I have no interest in him being in those quarterback meetings.”
If he’s just there to be informed, Danny will issue mea culpa and back off, but based off Adam Schefter’s report, that’s not how he’s seeing it – and again, what if this was last year and that was Snyder?
“You would lose your minds, because Dan Snyder screwed up everything every time. Every time he made a decision, it was the wrong one by miles,” Danny said. “If someone with a terrible track record was doing this, you would lose it. You have wonderful expert football people, and Martin Mayhew, in your employ, they need to be the ones doing this. Again, if he’s just there to be informed, I will apologize and back off, but I don’t want my owner meddling in the affairs of the football people. It's the point of having the football men.”