SHOCKING: Commander Owner Daniel Marc Snyder in police Custody over Sexual Harassment and financial misconduct.
SHOCKING: Commander Owner Daniel Marc Snyder in police Custody over Sexual Harassment and financial misconduct.
Washington Commanders owner Dan Snyder has hired Bank of America to explore “potential transactions,” the team said Wednesday.
The NFL team hired the bank to help facilitate a potential sale, according to a person familiar with the matter.
Snyder isn’t being forced to sell the team despite mounting pressure to potentially remove him as an NFL owner, the person said. Snyder and the Commanders are currently being investigated by both the House Oversight Committee and the NFL for sexual harassment and financial misconduct. The NFL’s probe is being led by former Securities and Exchange Chair Mary Jo White.
“Mary Jo White is continuing her review. We have no update on a timeline,” the league said Wednesday.
ESPN reported later Wednesday the alleged financial misconduct is also the subject of a criminal probe by federal prosecutors with the U.S. attorney’s office in the Eastern District of Virginia.
A deal for the Commanders could value the team as much as $7 billion, the person said. Forbes valued the team at $5.6 billion in its annual team valuations list, making the franchise the sixth most valuable in the NFL.
The league said Wednesday that any deal would have to go through its finance committee, and would require the approval of 24 of the NFL’s 32 teams.
Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay said at last month’s NFL owners’ meeting that there was “merit to remove” Snyder as owner of the Commanders.
“It’s something we have to review, we have to look at all the evidence and we have to be thorough and it’s something that has to be given serious consideration,” Irsay said of voting on Snyder’s removal last month.
After Irsay’s comments, the Commanders released a statement saying Snyder wouldn’t sell the team.
“We are confident that, when he has an opportunity to see the actual evidence in this case, Mr. Irsay will conclude that there is no reason for the Snyders to consider selling the franchise. And they won’t,” the statement said.
Snyder has owned the Commanders since 1999. In the last 23 seasons, the Commanders have made the playoffs six times and have yet to advance to a conference title game. Snyder has drawn consistent ire from the Commanders’ fan base for his behavior and the team’s
Fired from the Eagles last month, Brian Johnson will not land another offensive coordinator job. But the Eagles will see their three-year assistant twice next season.
Dan Quinn is expected to add the former play-caller to his Commanders staff, ESPN.com’s Jeremy Fowler reports. Johnson will work under Kliff Kingsbury in a prominent position. Prior to spending the 2023 season as the Eagles’ OC, Johnson was in place as quarterbacks coach.
It appears the Commanders will install Johnson as their pass-game coordinator, Fowler tweets. Johnson played an integral role in Jalen Hurts‘ ascent during the early 2020s, and although the Eagles fell apart on both sides of the ball late in the season, Hurts’ development on the whole reflects well on the young assistant.
Johnson, 36, interviewed for multiple HC jobs this offseason — in Atlanta and Tennessee — and received a request from Carolina. Though, the Panthers made a point of indicating they were no longer interested days later. Johnson landed on the OC carousel soon after, interviewing for the Browns, Buccaneers and Saints’ positions. Each team went in another direction. With only one OC job open — Seattle’s — Johnson will take a step back in 2024. Though, Quinn having a prominent OC candidate in place on his staff could certainly help during his first season in Washington.
This Commanders commitment also comes after Johnson engaged in talks with other teams, The Athletic’s Dianna Russini tweets. It was believed several teams were monitoring Johnson’s status. While Eric Bieniemy was unable to use the Commanders as a platform to solidify his value, Kingsbury and Johnson could have longer leashes due to the circumstances. Josh Harris and Adam Peters should be considered likely to give Quinn at least two seasons to prove he has what it takes to lead this team back to relevancy, though the team’s fortunes may well come down to how the No. 2 overall pick fares. Johnson figures to be an essential component in that equation.
Shifting from Shane Steichen to Johnson last year, the Eagles started off well but became one of the most disappointing contenders in recent memory by fading down the stretch. Philly managed just nine points in a one-sided wild-card loss in Tampa, and it appears Nick Sirianni was asked to fire both Johnson and DC Sean Desai. Unlike Doug Pederson in 2021, Philly’s HC obliged and will keep his job.
The Eagles’ bigger problems came on defense, but Hurts’ 15 INTs matched his 2021 and ’22 seasons combined. His yards-per-attempt number also dropped from 8.0 to 7.2 from 2022 to ’23. Though, the Eagles still ranked in the top eight in scoring and total offense. As the Eagles’ tailspin eventually involved the offense as well, Johnson found himself out of a job after receiving HC interview requests. The Eagles interviewed Kingsbury hours after firing Johnson; the two will now work together in Washington.
Johnson, who came to the Eagles after spending 2020 as Florida’s offensive coordinator, will likely join Kingsbury in developing a rookie quarterback. The Commanders’ Sam Howell experiment took on water this season, and the eight-game win streak to close out the campaign gave the team the No. 2 overall pick. That is expected to be used on a quarterback. It should then be expected that Kingsbury and Johnson’s fortunes will be tied to Drake Maye or Jayden Daniels — with the Bears still viewed as likely to draft ex-Kingsbury charge Caleb Williams at No. 1 — in Washington.
