Should Jim Irsay be the one calling out Daniel Snyder? | You Pod to Win the Game
Yahoo Sports Charles Robinson, Jori Epstein and Charles McDonald discuss the drama that came out of the NFL Owner’s Meetings in New York this week. Particularly, Colts owner Jim Irsay saying that there is merit to removing Daniel Snyder as owner of the Commanders. Hear the full conversation on the You Pod to Win the Game podcast. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher or wherever you listen.
Video Transcript
CHARLES ROBINSON: Who is going to make themselves the self-appointed spokesperson for moral values and authority on the Dan Snyder case? And of course, in the only fashion that could probably represent why the owners don't really want Dan Snyder hiring private investigators and snooping around their backyard, it would be Colts owner, Jim Irsay, who, if you will allow me just a moment, in 2014 was suspended by the NFL for an arrest that was tied to Jim Irsay driving around with $29,000 in cash in a garbage bag that also contained a bunch of prescription pills.
And this was only days after a woman who is alleged to have been Jim Irsay ex-mistress had what was believed to be an overdose in a home that had been purchased by the Colts' trust. This is who steps out and says of Dan Snyder, and I quote, "I believe there's merit to remove him," unquote, as an NFL owner. I don't know who else you could have tabbed to make this statement, but I don't know that it necessarily would have been Jim Irsay of all people.
CHARLES MCDONALD: If I'm ever in the position where Jim Irsay is saying, that guy, he's messing up. I feel like you just need to sit down, find a good therapist, just try to figure your life out, because Jim Irsay cannot be the guy that tells you that you need to clean it up. That's-- you're in a bad spot.
JORI EPSTEIN: I think that really underscores why we haven't seen Dan Snyder out, because unfortunately, when you look at these owners, whether it's money laundering or like, drug sales, I mean, all these different things, the reality is, like, each of them have baggage. And look, we all have our baggage. I've read some articles reading that.
I think that the whole, with great power comes great responsibility, they've got great financial power, and they're in the spotlight, and they know that. So it was fascinating. But then on the other hand, you could make the argument of like, well, Jim Irsay has been pretty public about what his baggage is.
And so he's like, look, it's out there. I don't care what the private investigators say. Like, I put it out publicly. And this guy needs to be out.
And I mean, I think what was so fascinating being in New York is-- so to set the scene a little bit. We were in this hallway of the Conrad in Downtown Manhattan and the owners' meetings was one floor above. Like, a bunch of us have been to these meetings and they're often one floor, like, whether it's the Dallas ones or in Florida last year. These ones, they were upstairs.
So you couldn't just, like, catch someone walking to the bathroom out of the meeting type of thing. So Jim Irsay comes down the stairs, no other owner in sight, and you see the Head of League PR pretty close to him. The Head of Colts PR pretty close to him, not with him, but like within shouting distance. And he stops, and I mean, we were in the meeting room. And someone's like, hey, Jim Irsay is about to talk.
And like, I don't know if he's [INAUDIBLE], but it was like, no, this man wanted to talk. He wanted to say this. He wanted to answer every single question out there. And I think there gets to a point where, like, you just have to-- have to think, like, OK, well, if all of them have issues, does that mean Dan Snyder is potentially worse or more egregious? And certainly more public issues are not a problem. Like, how do you hold anybody accountable?
I thought it was really fascinating also that later in the night, I was talking to Jerry Jones. And I asked him, do you think Dan Snyder is the right owner for the Washington franchise right now? And he said, I don't have any comment on this. We all agreed we wouldn't comment. Not, I don't want to comment, but we all agreed.
I mean, you could tell, like, these owners were squirming in their chairs after Jim Irsay did what he did. And though it seemed clear that people in his earshot knew this was going on, I'd be very curious how many of the other owners knew he was going to go nuclear like this. I think some, but I would be curious how many.
CHARLES ROBINSON: I wonder if in a situation like this it was couple of those owners who wanted to make sure something was said, and maybe he's the most, I guess, eligible flak jacket to roll out there and say, well, you know, he's already taken it anyway. How can-- it's not really getting any worse for Jim. And he's willing to say it, and do it, and stand up and talk in that manner about another NFL owner. Let's go ahead, let's roll it out.
JORI EPSTEIN: To me, one of the biggest takeaways of Jim Irsay speaking up was Jerry Jones had gone on radio that morning and said, this is a media thing. This is not a league thing. And then he said it again last night after Jim Irsay said it. And I didn't believe it the first time, but no one's going to believe it the second time.
Because it's not a media thing if one of your fellow owners. Again, we're not talking about 400 something members of the House and one of them speaking out, there's what, 31 owners, plus the Packers, who have a group of ownership. Like, this is a small group. They were all in the same room yesterday, minus the Snyders. I mean, when one of them is doing this, it really-- no one can credibly say afterward this is just you guys making this story in the media.