Commanders owner Dan Snyder believes he has enough “dirt” on fellow NFL owners, commissioner Roger Goodell and league officials that he could “blow up” several people and organizations, ESPN’s Don Van Natta Jr., Seth Wickersham and Tisha Thompson reported Thursday.
“He’s backed into a corner,” a veteran owner told the network. “He’s behaving like a mad dog cornered.”
ESPN’s report comes at a time when the embattled owner is facing investigations from the league and a congressional committee looking into workplace misconduct in the franchise. Yet, Snyder reportedly told associates he does not plan to lose the Washington team “without a fight that would end with multiple casualties,” ESPN wrote.
This fight includes information he has gathered throughout his 23-year tenure as Washington’s owner, as well as the reported use of private investigators. The tactics Snyder allegedly 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—have apparently spread to NFL owners and more than 30 league and team executives, as well as owners, lawyers and former and current Washington employees who spoke with ESPN said.
One Commanders executive has repeatedly called Snyder “the most powerful owner in the NFL” thanks to the information he has gathered, a source told ESPN.
Snyder’s use of private investigators to follow NFL owners is well known in owner circles and even the league, sources told ESPN. Owners and league officials have been informed that the Washington owner told his law firm to hire private investigators to reportedly keep tabs on owners as well as Goodell. Though the number of owners tracked is unclear, sources told the network it’s believed to be at least six.
A source told ESPN Snyder allegedly “has dirt on [Cowboys owner] Jerry Jones,” though the network noted, “the nature of this information was unclear.” Jones, a longtime ally of Snyder, recently told trusted confidants he “might not be able” to defend the Washington owner for much longer, ESPN reported. Commanders’ lawyers denied their relationship has suffered and said in a statement Jones, Snyder and wife, Tanya, have “great respect and admiration for one another.”
A Washington spokesperson said it was “simply ridiculous and utterly false” that Snyder at any point said that he could “blow up” the league. The spokesperson also said that “owners have a shared love of the game, mutual respect for each other and our organizations, and a strong working relationship.”
A team representative and outside lawyers also told ESPN that Snyder has not hired or authorized the use of private investigators in following league officials, owners or Goodell.
“This is categorically false,” John Brownlee and Stuart Nash, partners at Holland & Knight, told ESPN. “He has no ‘dossiers’ compiled on any owners.”
The Washington Post reported in December “lawyers and private investigators working on Snyder’s behalf took steps that potential witnesses … viewed as attempts to interfere with the NFL’s investigation,” including allegedly hiring private investigators who went to homes of former employees and contacted their friends and families. Members of the U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Reform also released a memo in February stating the Washington owner not only allegedly used private investigators in his own investigation, but also “abused the subpoena power of federal courts to obtain private emails, call logs, and communications in an effort to uncover the sources of the Washington Post’s exposés, undermine their credibility, and impugn their motives.”
The NFL is currently investigating new allegations that stem from the U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Reform’s investigation into workplace misconduct in the franchise. The league initially conducted a probe into the Washington team after former employees cited sexual harassment in 2020. Attorney Beth Wilkinson and her firm investigated, but the probe’s findings were never released to the public.
As a result of the initial investigation, Snyder was fined $10 million, and Tanya Snyder took over the team’s day-to-day operations. It also caused the House Committee to launch its own investigation into the organization as well as pressing Goodell to release the findings of the Wilkinson investigation. The House Committee’s findings caused the NFL to open a new investigation led by U.S. attorney and former Securities and Exchange Commission chair Mary Jo White.
The House Committee and NFL’s investigations are still ongoing.
