The latest controversy surrounding the Commanders and co-owner Dan Snyder has spilled over to even the franchise’s celebrations, it appears. On Sunday, the team is planning on honoring 10 of its all-time greatest players, but one says he wants nothing to do with it.
Former Washington tight end Chris Cooley is one of the 10 former players being added to the the team’s greatest 90 players list in honor of the franchise’s 90th anniversary, but he says he doesn’t want to go to the ceremony Sunday.
“I’m very appreciative of being voted in, and I’m very appreciative of my time while I was there,” he said on The Kevin Sheehan Show. “At this point, I don’t have a lot of desire to be involved with the Washington Commanders. It’s not the team name that does it.”
Cooley doesn’t go into specific detail about his decision to skip the ceremony. He played in Washington for his entire nine-year NFL career before its name change and was selected to two Pro Bowls before retiring after the 2012 season.
His comments come in the wake of Colts owner Jim Irsay saying Dan Snyder should be removed from his position and that he believes that they have enough votes to remove him as the Commanders’ co-owner.
The momentum for Snyder’s removal stems from an ESPN story published Oct. 13 saying Snyder recently told a close associate he has enough information to “blow up” several NFL owners, the league office and commissioner Roger Goodell. Per the ESPN report, Snyder has used private investigators to look into several NFL team owners and Goodell, the same tactics Snyder is said to have used within his own franchise—the ones used to scare employees seeking accountability for workplace misconduct and sexual harassment allegations levied against the owner and his team. Though the number of owners tracked is unclear, sources told ESPN it’s believed to be at least six.
Snyder is also facing investigations from the league and a congressional committee looking into workplace misconduct in the franchise. The NFL first launched an investigation into the franchise after a July 2020 report by The Washington Post detailed accounts from 15 former female employees alleging sexual harassment by various staffers over the course of 18 years. The House Committee on Oversight and Reform is investigating Snyder, who testified in front of the committee in July ’22.
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