Last May, an implied message was sent to Dan Snyder.
For months across NFL ownership suites, a straw-polling of sorts had been under way concerning the embattled Washington Commanders leader. Swirling overhead was a maelstrom of trouble and it was intensifying. A messy workplace investigation into Snyder and his franchise had embarrassed the league and put seemingly everyone under a microscope.
The NFL’s lawyers were neck-deep in an effort to win a dismissal in a Snyder-sparked lawsuit from ousted Las Vegas Raiders coach Jon Gruden. And buzzing like a mosquito in the background: a Congressional oversight committee that was drawing up subpoenas that included commissioner Roger Goodell.