WASHINGTON — Doug Williams has full-on NFL brain.
I don鈥檛 mean this in regards to anything having to do with any physical or psychological fallout from his having played football. I mean it in the way that Roger Goodell has full-on NFL brain, how the disease of his fealty to capital 鈥淔鈥� Football above any of the many more important aspects of our society has seemingly spread and infected the higher ups at the teams around the league.
Now the Senior Vice President of Player Personnel for the team that he once quarterbacked to a Super Bowl win, Williams was the one whose name was attached to Washington’s release that acknowledged the team鈥檚 claim on Reuben Foster, the linebacker released by the San Francisco 49ers earlier this week after repeated accusations of domestic violence. While we鈥檙e used to seeing teams give second (and third, and beyond) chances to players accused and even convicted of crimes, no other team put in a waiver claim on Foster.
Washington was the only team to put in a waiver claim for former 49ers鈥� LB Reuben Foster, who was arrested Saturday night on a domestic violence charge, per source. No other NFL team put in a waiver claim on Foster.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter)
So why did Washington? to defend the decision Thursday and somehow managed to make himself and the organization look worse at basically every conceivable turn of the conversation.
His appearance included every possible trope of someone who wants to make it sound like he understands — but very clearly does not understand — the ramifications of his decision. It included the classic 鈥渇ather of daughters鈥� qualification (鈥淚鈥檝e got six daughters, so it ain鈥檛 something I would condone鈥�). Williams also engaged in a token bit of whataboutism, as he didn鈥檛-bring-up-but-actually-did-bring-up the fact that other teams had also employed players with checkered pasts.
When questioned about whether the team — which didn鈥檛 check in with the local authorities, — had performed its due diligence, Williams leaned on the fact that team officials spoke with former Alabama players under their employ. Except, well, they weren鈥檛 exactly thorough on even that very basic count.
None of the five former Alabama players confirmed that management spoke to them. Two — Ha Ha Clinton-Dix and Jonathan Allen, who played for Alabama at the same time as Foster — said they weren鈥檛 asked. Ryan Anderson and Shaun Dion Hamilton declined to comment, while Daron Payne was not available in the locker room.
鈥淲ell, you know, we didn鈥檛 hold a convention,鈥� said Williams.
Alright, then. Surely he understood the moral consequences of such a decision, though.
鈥淏asically what you鈥檙e doing here is you鈥檙e taking a high-risk chance,鈥� said Williams, seemingly indicating the potential liability of bringing someone with Foster鈥檚 past into your organization and what that might mean for the other players, employees and anyone else who Foster might deal with. But that wasn鈥檛 what Williams meant. And there were few worse words he could have chosen in his expression of the true meaning of his statement.
鈥淭he high risk was the beat-up that we鈥檙e going to take from PR. We understood that from a PR standpoint, and we鈥檙e taking it.鈥�
Yep. Not only does Williams see the public-relations disaster as the only negative in the situation, but he actually used the term 鈥渂eat-up鈥� to describe it. I wonder if there could be any recent indication that Williams鈥� judgment when it comes to off-field behavior might be impaired, that he might twist his interpretation of whatever happened to fit the needs of a football team.
FWIW: Doug Williams was also part of the task force that found Maryland's football culture to be "not toxic"
— Noah Frank (@NoahFrank海角精品黑料)
Right. But wait, there鈥檚 more, if you can believe it.
鈥淲e鈥檝e got people who are in high, high, high, high places that have done far worse, and if you look at it realistically, they鈥檙e still up there,鈥� he said, opaquely. 鈥淭his is small potatoes [compared to] a lot of the things out there.鈥�
It鈥檚 difficult to imagine who 鈥減eople who are in high, high, high, high places鈥� are if not for Donald Trump, who has been . The choice to invoke Trump, or whoever else in power Williams was alluding to, is a bizarre enough deflection of responsibility for both Foster and the organization. But there is a particularly galling irony in that word choice — 鈥渟mall potatoes.鈥� That is, as the football fans in the room can tell you, the term used by Trump himself when describing the USFL — the league his hubris torpedoed, in which Williams played and became a star prior to his Super Bowl with Washington — years after the fact.
The act of claiming Foster, when nobody else would, showed that this organization isn鈥檛 interested in even pretending it has any semblance of a moral compass. But Williams鈥� radio hit revealed a far more damaged and amoral psyche, a judgment system devoid of any understanding of right and wrong beyond what might — someday, if Foster is eventually reinstated — lead to a better chance to win football games.
Whatever moral failings may occur in other parts of society, Williams is in no position to lay blame at anyone else鈥檚 feet for his own ill-reasoned decisions. When it comes to football, he and his team are at the top of the power structure as members of the richest, most powerful sports league in America. If he believes it鈥檚 the responsibility of those in high places to set an example for everyone else, now might be a good time to take a long look in the mirror.
UPDATE: At a news conference on Friday, Williams offered a vague apology for his remarks but did not take questions.
