Washington Coach Ron Rivera a ‘Rock’ – Jason Wright

It’s a tumultuous time for every NFL team, no more so than the Washington Football team.

Set against the backdrop of the Covid-19 pandemic, Washington has been dealing with crisis after crisis.

First, several women came forward with sexual misconduct allegations against members of staff.

Then, it had to drop it’s ‘Redskins’ nickname under pressure from sponsors and the intensified political climate in the US.

Owner Dan Snyder was being called on to sell the franchise, and still is in some quarters. Washington had to do something, and that something had to make a big statement.

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The statement came in the form of former player Jason Wright, who was hired as the team’s president. Wright is the first black president in NFL history, and at 38, is also the youngest. As well as that, he is the fourth former player to be hired as a team president. 

Immediately, there was another crisis in the capital, after the sad announcement this week that coach Ron Rivera has been diagnosed with cancer.

“He’s doing great. Both physically, psychologically, spiritually, and I think you’ve seen that in what’s come from him,” Wright said. 

“It doesn’t change anything for me except that … I already knew we really need to take care of our people in a different way and do culture in a different way and be people-centric. I just needed to jump into that quite a bit earlier to take care of our folks because it’s hard for everybody in the community.”

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While most teams are pulling their hair out over how exactly games can be played, Wright and Co. will be relieved to get back to playing football after this offseason.

Wright intends to change the culture of the organization, and he knows it won’t be easy.

“It is a big thing to undertake. But frankly, it’s something that every organization needs to do to remain high performing. And gratefully, I’ve been able to do that over the last seven to eight years with my former company, helping organizations get on that journey,” Wright said.