Chris Cooley lets loose a wild theory about Redskins GM Scot McCloughan: Is he drinking?

To say Chris Cooley can be a loose cannon is an understatement. Even though he’s was a former Washington Redskins tight end, turned analyst and morning radio host, he eertainly hasn’t endeared himself to his former team. Whether it’s a former teammate wanting to smack him or provoking safety Duke Ihenacho Ihenacho, Cooley can engage. Now, Cooley has offered a theory about Washington GM Scot McCloughan.

On his morning radio show this week, Cooley discusssed McCloughan not being allowed to speak to the media. It was noticed by several beat reporters. And as the team heads into the off season, the media has many questions about potential moves.

But as the days go by without any official comment from McCloughan, Cooley went on a tangent and it’s a tangent that not many would touch. Here’s the transcription from the Washington Post:

“You start to wonder, what the hell is going on here?” Cooley asked. “And I start to look at this and say, ‘Do we not trust what Scot McCloughan is going to say to the media, and is that why he’s not allowed to talk to the media?’ And if we don’t trust what he’s going to say to the media, why don’t we trust what he’s going to say to the media? Now, if you look at the history of Scot McCloughan, I think the one thing that you’d immediately start to flush out as to why we don’t trust what he’s going to say is that he’s had a drinking problem over his entire career. And so you ask right away, is he drinking?”

That’s a pretty wild assumption. But Cooley did offer some thoughts behind this:

Cooley said the team’s scouting department has been “working relentlessly” in recent weeks, and that McCloughan might actually be occupied with work. Cooley said no one has told him that McCloughan is being muzzled, and that he doesn’t want to ask anyone about the topic “so I don’t have to protect anybody” He said he was merely acting as a fan or radio host on this matter, using uninformed guesswork, “because I really don’t know.” But he also publicly floated a pretty inflammatory suggestion, more than once.

McCloughan admitted to ESPN that he went to rehab when he worked for the 49ers and how he later lost that job and one with the Seahawks due to his behavior. Cooley and his co-host Kevin Sheehan then speculated that McCloughan was kept silent to stop leaks to the media, to stop talk about quarterback Kirk Cousins and to lessen the chatter coming out of the team’s offices.

No matter what, this type of speculation without proof can be dangerous. And coming from a team employee, there could be repercussions. But then again, there may not. It’s just another chapter in the soap opera known as the Washington Redskins.

[Washington Post]