[SmootSmack]

Snyder took over the team after the 1998 season, but so late into 1999 did he take the reins that he couldn’t have any impact on the personnel of the team that year. Those Redskins finally made it to the playoffs under Head Coach Norv Turner, winning 10 games and the NFC East division title. The Redskins crushed the Detroit Lions in a home playoff game and then lost narrowly and comically to a fine Tampa Bay Buccaneers team. It seemed the Redskins might have finally turned the corner after drifting between atroicious and mediocre since the retirement of Joe Gibbs after the 1992 season.

Then Dan Snyder began to make decisions.

Snyder, of course, is the first owner ever to want to put his own imprint on a new purchase. Also, let's completely disregard the fact that he has repeatedly admitted to making mistakes early on his ownership.

Snyder paid a mint for an old and over-the-hill Bruce Smith, a once-great pass-rusher the Buffalo Bills didn’t want anymore. Smith had one good season for the Redskins and then lapsed into a lame and purpose-less [for the Redskins, anyway] pursuit of the NFL career sack title. Deion Sanders was also brought in despite repeated warnings from the Dallas metro area that recent injuries meant he only had 9 working toes and wasn’t the player Snyder thought he was getting. Sanders was a slightly-better-than-average cornerback, no improvement on the man shoved into a reserve role, Darrell Green. As a punt returner, Sanders made WR James Thrash look good; Thrash averaged over 3 yards more per punt return than Sanders did. To make room for Sanders on the roster, the Redskins cut RB/RS Brian Mitchell, perhaps the most talented and useful player on the team.

Not excusing Dan Snyder for those moves, he is the owner after all. But the Smith had Gerald Snyder's hands all over it, and B-Mitch had D. Green all over it. Still, let's keep talking about stuff that happened nearly a decade ago

And let us not forget QB Jeff George, who lobbied endlessly for the starter job over incumbent [and future Super Bowl champion] Brad Johnson. George, who famously said leadership is “overrated,” failed utterly in Washington, finishing the 2000 season ineffectually as the starter and then being cut after two weeks by new Head Coach Marty Schottenheimer in 2001. This article from ESPN’s Chris Mortensen explains the situation nicely:

George was an unmitigated disaster. And Snyder blew a huge opportunity with Schottenheimer, in my opinion (2nd favorite head coach of all time). But just saying "Snyder was unhappy because he couldn't be the guy" is inaccurate. Guys like Stephen "Fumble when Trying to Run the Clock Out" Davis had no place on Spurrier's offense anyway. Agree though that our draft efforts for several years have been less than stellar

Dan Snyder didn’t buy the Redskins to make money, though he does intend to make money with the Redskins and does, indeed, do so. Dan Snyder didn’t buy the Redskins to win Super Bowls, though he does hope to do that, too. Dan Snyder bought the Redskins to be general manager because being general manager of an NFL team is fun — particularly if you’ve got a lot of money to spend and have no boss to fire you.

I’m going to repeat that because it is important for understanding Snyder and why the Redskins have endured so much losing: Dan Snyder bought the Redskins to be general manager because being general manager of an NFL team is fun — particularly if you’ve got a lot of money to spend and have no boss to fire you.

That's quite an assumption

What fan hasn’t fantasized about being the GM of his favorite NFL team, making the big calls, reshaping the roster, gathering the glory when all those wise and far-sighted decisions yield a Vince Lombardi trophy? All fans have done that. What else is fantasy football, a hugely popular pasttime, if not an attempt to live out GM dreams that will never be realized? Well, Dan Snyder gets to realize those dreams. And it’s fun.

Indeed there are times when Snyder has a tendency to be as impetuous as many of the stupid fans of the team. Those days are much fewer and far between. But he was definitely not like that in 2000, and we really need to continue to focus on that year.

The problem is, Dan Snyder doesn’t know how to be the GM of an NFL team. He’s the worst sort of ignoramus — the kind who thinks he’s got it all covered and is completely unaware of how little he knows. It’s not just that Snyder doesn’t know what he’s doing. If that were the only problem, it would be easily fixed: Snyder doesn’t know what he’s doing. He realizes this. He hires someone who does. Problem solved. But that’s not the case. The real problem is that Snyder thinks he DOES know what he’s doing. When asked if there would be changes in the front office, Snyder has replied that you don’t fix something if it isn’t broken. As far as Dan Snyder is concerned, the front office of the Washington Redskins is working .

Exactly why they've been revamping the scouting department and other front office personnel over the past two seasons, I suppose. And I know the counter-argument. As long as VC is around you're just rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic

To sum up the situation:

1. Dan Snyder bought the Redskins to be the GM of the Redskins;

2. Dan Snyder is a terrible GM;

3. Dan Snyder thinks he’s a good GM.

That’s why the Redskins are where they are. And that’s why the Redskins will stay where they are until something or someone changes Dan Snyder’s mind about his talents as a general manager.

Great summary...I guess

Of course, Dan Snyder has his defenders. These are mostly people who draw a salary from Dan Snyder, of course, but not all. There are fans who appear to appreciate Snyder, who say that the way he spends money proves that he cares about the team and wants to win.

This is irrelevant. Of course Dan Snyder wants to win. Mike Brown, owner/GM of the Cincinnati Bengals wants to win. Al Davis, owner/GM/Coach of the Oakland Raiders wants to win. Bill Bidwell, owner of the Arizona Cardinals wants to win. Every NFL owner wants his or her team to win a Super Bowl every year. The real question is this:

What is Dan Snyder willing to do to win?

And that’s where the problem with the Redskins becomes persistent and chronic. Bill Bidwell wants to win, but not if it means he has to spend a lot of money. Same with Mike Brown of the Bengals. They both want to win on the cheap. Al Davis wants to make all the personnel decisions on his team and pay his coaches a pittance. Jerry Jones of the Dallas Cowboys, the owner Dan Snyder most closely resembles, wants to be GM and head coach of his team. He does serve as GM and he maintains some functions of a head coach, such as hiring various assistant coaches — something Snyder now does, as well. Jerry Jones wants to win so badly his head is ready to explode. He spent a ton of money assembling the team he has now and is about to move the Cowboys into a gigantic and hugely expensive state-of-the-art stadium. Yet for all his money and all his wishes, Jones’ team hasn’t won a playoff game since the 1996 season — a record of futility that dwarfs even Snyder’s.

Clearly, then, wanting to win games and Super Bowls isn’t enough. What else does an owner need to do?

Answer: He needs to recognize his limitations. The Cowboys haven’t won a playoff game in 12 years because Jerry Jones took over as GM and he’s a terrible GM. The Redskins lose so many games despite a high payroll because Dan Snyder is the GM and he’s a terrible GM. In general, owners don’t make good general managers. To be a good manager or coach or general manager of a sports team, you really need to spend your adult life, at the very least, working at football. You need to be learning about it, watching it on film, talking to other experts, and listening to mentors who know more than you do. A lot of the time what you’ll be doing isn’t very exciting, but it is necessary to learn your trade. One doesn’t wake up and decide that today you’re a chemist or a molecular biologist or a neurosurgeon. You have to study for years to be good at those things. The problem with running a football team is that there are no official qualifications you need to have; all the qualifications are real and important, but they’re entirely unofficial. But being unofficial doesn’t make them any less important or necessary.

By now it must be clear to all, except for Daniel Snyder himself, that he’s not competent to run an NFL team. There’s no shame in that. There is no reason why he should be competent to run an NFL team. He didn’t spend most of his life studying the things you need to know to run an NFL team well. We don’t assume that someone who is rich enough to buy a hospital is qualified to perform brain surgery. Why should we assume that somone who is rich enough to buy a football team [after borrowing from every bank and relative he could find] is qualified to be an NFL general manager? We should not.

This article is largely based on the assumption that Snyder is the "General Manager" of the team. Ok. Look, clearly Snyder has input. He's the owner of the team, why shouldn't he. But he also has ceded considerable decision making and football responsibilities since his first year as team owner. But some don't want to accept that because the Lombardi Trophies haven't been rolling in at the same rate the money is rolling out.

Are there better owners? Of course. Could we do a lot worse? No doubt. Snyder has his faults. First and foremost indeed is that he still has that bad habit sometimes of falling back into that I'm a fan mode (such as the way Portis is running his mouth without any fear of repercussion it seems).