There are many things the Washington Commanders are currently being criticized for, from negotiations on if owner Dan Snyder will actually testify before the congressional committee investigating the team’s business practices and past handling of workplace harassment to discussions of their potential stadium move to talk about defensive coordinator Jack Del Rio‘s incendiary comments on the storming of the Capitol. Some remarkably preventable own goals have come around team branding efforts, though, including using the year of the Super Bowl rather than the year of the season on their crest (which they eventually changed after significant public backlash). And now, they’ve modified their ballot for the players and coaches to be added to their “90 Greatest” list after many criticized that ballot for leaving off Trent Williams (seen above with the team in September 2018) and Robert Griffin III. Here’s that initial ballot:
Fans can vote 10 of the following players and coaches into the “90 Greatest” in franchise history at https://t.co/JSb9awtFmz. pic.twitter.com/ZeqZWFGZaT
— Jake Russell (@_JakeRussell) July 9, 2022
And here’s the team’s tweet on their changes Monday:
Trent Williams and RGIII were added to the ballot https://t.co/wKzai2nXZu
— Scott Allen (@ScottSAllen) July 11, 2022
This is part of the team’s celebration of the franchise’s 90th season (they began life as the Boston Braves back in 1932). Around their 70th season 20 years ago, they selected their 70 Greatest figures, then added 10 more a decade ago. They’re now having fans vote for 10 more additions to that list, bringing it up to 90. But the omissions of Williams and Griffin drew a lot of criticism.
Yes, both Griffin and Williams left the team in messy fashion, including disputes over medical treatment. Griffin, now an ESPN analyst, spent the entire 2015-16 regular season inactive amidst disputes over concussion evaluation, then was released after that season. He later said his experience in Washington “would break a lot of people,” and said he planned to write a tell-all book called Surviving Washington about his time with the team (but that project was eventually scrapped).
Williams, now with the San Francisco 49ers, held out for part of the 2019-20 season in protest of the team medical staff’s past handling of a growth on his head that was later found to be cancerous, saying he “lost all trust” in the team as a result of that. He eventually reported to the team after that season’s trade deadline, but experienced issues with his helmet thanks to post-surgery lesions, and was put on the non-football injury list. He was then was traded to the 49ers for third- and fifth-round picks that offseason, and has been a key piece for them since.
Despite Williams and Griffin not leaving the franchise on good terms, though, it seems a little foolish to not even present them as potential candidates here. Both of those players were key to the success the team did find during the last 10 years. And the franchise took a lot of criticism for not presenting them as a choice initially (and also for misspellings of names of two of the figures who were included, something they also fixed on this new ballot):
commanders so petty they wont include trent williams on a greatest players in franchise history list https://t.co/qld43QN8bW
— charles (load up the drake (london)) mcdonald (@FourVerts) July 11, 2022
Trent Williams left under bad circumstances, a few of which he created, but it's an absolute JOKE that he's not under consideration for the next ten on the #Commanders 90 greatest legacy. https://t.co/upPEoLLX4i
— Chris Russell AKA the 🐓🐓! (@Russellmania621) July 11, 2022
Submitted my ballot named “Trent Williams” since he was some how left out @whoisjwright @Commanders https://t.co/DpwOCPd2bW
— ryan (@RyanRutherchevy) July 9, 2022
It’s not clear how the team will handle the count here, as they presumably already received quite a few ballots during the days where Williams and Griffin were not listed as options. But those players are now available as part of the 17 candidates here, and that’s at least a positive response to the criticism the Commanders received for initially excluding them. We’ll see who’s eventually selected.
[CommandLegacy.com; photo from Mark J. Rebilas/USA Today Sports]