Jason Wright is out as Commanders president effective immediately, and he will remain in the organization as a senior advisor before leaving the organization completely by the end of this coming football season.
That news broke midday Thursday so Friday was the first chance the Junkies had to react, and no matter what you think of his four years here, the Junks give him a little leeway because of the situation he came into.
“He took over in a really tough time, because that was kind of the height of the harassment issues and Snyder and the mess,” JP said.
Personally, I think he did a good job with the professionalism, but there were major botches along the way.”
Atop that list? Of course, it’s 2/2/22.
“That team name reveal was underwhelming at best,” JP said, with Bish calling it “embarrassing.”
“It was a double whammy because the name was very mediocre, and the rollout was kindergarten-level at best,” EB said. “There are high school teams that put out hype videos that are better.”
“I know you're going into what he had to deal with when he took over in 2020, and he did have to deal with a lot and I'm sure he was probably very good at some of that, but I think his legacy is the name reveal,” Jason added.
Agreed all around, but Cakes actually had a small defense?
“Maybe he had bigger, more grandiose plans for it, and maybe they just got shot down by Dan Snyder because Dan was like, ‘I know I'm selling the team, I'm not gonna spend a bunch of money to make it a better name reveal,’” Cakes said. “Maybe he was hamstrung. I'm just gonna put that possibility out there.”
“I don't doubt he was, because he came into a horrible situation,” EB said. “And I know for a fact, people said to him, ‘you know, you gotta be careful here and keep your eyes open.’ People call it a reverse car wash, because you come in clean and you leave dirty.”
There were of course a lot of other PR snafus, like the Sean Taylor Day deal, but EB also tried to give Wright a little bit of credit for his good moments.
“There were some big botches, but in Jason’s defense, one person is not gonna turn that all the way around, especially somebody that doesn't have ultimate power,” EB said. “He had power, I'm sure, but he didn't have ultimate power. He was a business guy, and that’s what those guys do.”
“He was also trying to make it a much less toxic workplace, which I think he succeeded in that,” Cakes added. “It seems like they made a real turnaround, which is a positive thing.”
All that said, Drabby had perhaps the crowning quote of the day:
“Thom Loverro is right: he calls him the Chief Blunder Officer,” he said. “That’s what he is. He’s a nice guy or whatever, but it’s a terrible legacy.”
Listen to the whole conversation above!