Jason Wright will be retained.
When the Josh Harris Group is named by the NFL later in July as the official owners of the Washington Commanders, apparently present Commanders President Jason Wright will not be replaced.
Commanders President Jason Wright will be retained at least initially and given a chance to earn a continued role once under new ownership once the sale to Josh Harris is finalized, sources said.https://t.co/nwYXISHmcS
— Nicki Jhabvala (@NickiJhabvala) June 30, 2023
Ron Rivera has been in charge of the football operations since being hired by outgoing owner Daniel Snyder in 2020. Wright was hired and became the first Black team president in league history when he was hired in August 2020 to head the business operations of the Commanders.
It is hard to read what the import of this announcement actually communicates. Does it indicate Wright is safe and the Harris group is going to keep him? Is it because the purchase of the team coming only days before the opening of the 2023 seasons’ training camp, the common sense move would be to make no move? This could provide Harris time to evaluate Wright’s effectiveness during the 2023 season.
One side of the coin could be that there are those who feel Wright needs an opportunity to show what he can do under different ownership. The other side of the coin would state that the business side has executed more than a few sloppy errors, even comical at times, this being under the supervision of Wright.
The rebrand announcement televised on NBC led by Wright left viewers wondering how much forethought and planning occurred. There was little excitement when Doug Williams was asked by Wright to simply utter, “We are the Commanders.” Why so anticlimactic? Why was there no enthusiasm planned?
Then there were both Sean Taylor days being huge disappointments with, again, little to show in organization and thoughtfulness. The team also was selling mugs with the Washington State geographical design on the mug.
How in the world does that get by several people? What type of leadership and oversight was there in that process? What does that say for cultural literacy as well within the organization?
Then when the Commanders announced they were announcing the 90 Greatest players in franchise history, there was a comedy of errors, so many in fact it ceased to be funny. It was, no exaggeration, an embarrassment for a professional sports league organization.
Yet, there will be those who feel Wright deserves a clean slate, placing all of the blame for his lack of effectiveness on Daniel and Tanya Snyder. His supporters will convey that an immediate dismissal of Wright would be reactionary and not fair to him.
