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The stage is set for Daniel Snyder to emerge from the biggest scandal of his more than two decades of ownership without facing serious scrutiny from the league office.
The inescapable clue appears right in the middle of the league’s statement in response to the Washington Post Article about 15 former employees who claim they were victims of sexual harassment while working for the Washington franchise: “Washington has hired an outside attorney to conduct a thorough investigation into these allegations. The club has promised that it will give its full cooperation to the investigator and we hope that the club and all employees do so. We will meet with the attorneys at the conclusion of their investigation and take any action based on their findings. “
Washington has hired outside attorneys, not the NFL. The external consultant always has the duty of the client of the external consultant. Here, the client of the outside attorney is Washington. More specifically, the client is Snyder. Undoubtedly, an outside consultant will not make findings that include, for example, significantly blaming Snyder for creating, tolerating, encouraging, and / or failing to rectify a toxic culture that gave rise to these allegations.
Surprisingly, the league has decided to allow and adopt this approach. Did the Saints manage to hire their own attorney to investigate the bounty scandal? Did the Dolphins manage to hire their own attorney to investigate the Richie Incognito / Jonathan Martin situation? Did the Patriots manage to hire their own attorney to investigate Tom Brady’s air pressure allegations? Much more relevant to the current situation, did the Panthers manage to hire their own attorney to investigate the misconduct allegations that eventually forced team founder Jerry Richardson to sell?
The table in this case is already set for the outside attorney to find Snyder blameless, primarily because none of the 15 former employees made accusations against him. Yes, it may take some smart advocacy to isolate Snyder without making him look like a jerk for not knowing what was going on under his nose, but he’s hired a smart attorney.
Closely linked to whether the attorney hired by Snyder will conclude that Snyder has significant responsibility for the workplace environment he owns, the question arises as to whether and to what extent the investigation will be transparent. If / when (when) the league and / or team decide to provide little or nothing by way of detail because the situation deals with “personnel matters,” there will be no way to verify the work of the outside attorney to determine if it is fair. Investigation and impartial analysis occurred in relation to Snyder’s role, responsibility and liability.
But the answer is already known. Washington, not the NFL, has hired an outside attorney. The NFL has accepted and endorsed that approach. The chances of Snyder himself being responsible for everything that happened during his 21-year tenure of the team are, at the moment, very slim.
