Washington Redskins owner Daniel Snyder apparently has no hard feelings toward one of the franchise’s most famous — and famously outspoken — players. Former Redskins running back John Riggins, who has been publicly critical of team ownership in recent years, is taking a prominent role with Snyder’s Red Zebra Broadcasting on both the Redskins Radio Network and flagship station ESPN 980.
As reported by the Washington Post‘s Dan Steinberg, Riggins will co-host the Redskins radio pregame show in addition to making several weekly appearances on ESPN 980. That includes an hour each Tuesday with new midday host Bram Weinstein, Thursday mornings with Redskins pregame show host Kevin Sheehan and Chris Cooley, and Friday afternoons with Scott Jackson, Doc Walker and Brian Mitchell. That’s a big weekly workload for Riggins, whose previous radio gig was a regular guest spot on D.C. sports talk station 106.7 The Fan.
What makes Riggins working for the Redskins radio crew and Snyder’s sports talk station especially notable, however, is that he’s been extremely critical of how the team has been run in recent years. Riggins worked for WTEM (ESPN 980) frequently throughout the 1990s and early 2000s, but his contract was not renewed shortly after Snyder bought the station. It’s certainly possible that had something to do with Riggins’ outspoken criticism of the Redskins owner.
For example, he said this about Snyder on Showtime’s Inside the NFL in 2009, when the Redskins were trudging through a 5-11 season (as transcribed by the Post‘s Steinberg):
“This is a bad guy that owns this team. I’ll just tell you that upfront. Bad guy. I don’t think it’s a place, a climate that is created there where people can be successful. It’s driven all by [Snyder’s] ego and everything has to come from him. … This person knows nothing about football, absolutely nothing. I don’t think they have a clue how a football team comes together, how it works.”
Riggins went on to say Snyder’s “heart is dark” and that Redskins fans shouldn’t support the team because “bad guys shouldn’t be enriched.”
Nearly seven years later, there are apparently no hard feelings on Snyder’s side. Or he just realizes this is who Riggins is and he’s an extremely beloved former Redskins great who is sure to be popular on both the team’s radio pregame show and ESPN 980 throughout the week. People tend to tune in for brash opinions, and Riggins isn’t shy about providing them. More importantly, he’ll be candid about the team’s play if it’s not up to par.
According to Steinberg, Riggins may have gotten back in the good graces of Redskins management three years ago. So maybe it was just a matter of his contract with 106.7 The Fan expiring, Riggins becoming a free agent, and Red Zebra having openings available. Is it even possible that Tony Kornheiser leaving ESPN 980 to do his own podcast helped the process at all? Riggins likely would not have been a guest on Kornheiser’s show, especially for a full hour.
