Washington Commanders defensive coordinator Jack Del Rio has been in the news for all of the wrong reasons as of late.
The long-time coach has caught a ton of flak for his comments regarding the January 6 insurrection at the U.S Capitol, which he called a “dust-up.” That event resulted in the death of seven people.
Del Rio later apologized for his comments, calling his choice of words “irresponsible and negligent”.
The problem with this is that Del Rio’s rant started when talking about national protests regarding inequality. He doubled down with his “dustup” comments. He clearly meant what he said.
Now, Commanders’ head coach Ron Rivera has decided to penalize his defensive coordinator. Rivera released a statement on Friday revealing that he has fined Del Rio $100,000, with the proceeds going to the United States Capitol Police Memorial Fund.
“This morning I met with Del Rio to express how disappointed I am in his comments on Wednesday. His comments do not reflect the Organization’s views and are extremely hurtful to our greater community here in the DMV. As we saw last night in our hearings, what happened on the Capitol on January 6, 2021 was an act of domestic terrorism.”
“He does have the right to voice his opinion as a citizen of the United States and it most certainly is his constitutional right to do so. However, words have consequences and his words hurt a lot of people in our community. I want to make it clear that our organization will not tolerate any equivalency between those who demanded justice in the wake of George Floyd’s murder and the actions of those on January 6 who sought to topple our government.”
Statement from Washington HC Ron Rivera on the fine of DC Jack Del Rio, via @Commanders: pic.twitter.com/p5pa4aMPz3
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) June 10, 2022
This decision by Rivera has certainly garnered a ton of reactions around the NFL world, with many praising the Commanders head coach for penalizing Del Rio.
Respect towards Ron Rivera for acting on this. But there’s no fine that can take back his words. 🤷🏽♀️ https://t.co/9hlRrGy4Zk
— Kayla Burton (@Kay_Breezy22) June 10, 2022
Ron Rivera … doing what's right! Again. https://t.co/t3O2HZVvnh
— 𝐌𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐏𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐫 (@MikeFPrater) June 10, 2022
Ron Rivera is the Steve Kerr of Gregg Popoviches. https://t.co/3eLI283g1l
— Eric Adelson (@eric_adelson) June 10, 2022
Ron Rivera, in addition to Tweeting lyrics to Alasdair Roberts' songs, has no tolerance for false equivalencies. I have no choice but to stan. https://t.co/j3jyM2qwcI
— Otis Hart (@spotieotis) June 10, 2022
It is definitely interesting that this fine is said to have come from Rivera, and not from the Commanders’ organization overall or owner Dan Snyder. Snyder is certainly going through his own controversies at the moment, facing both sexual harassment allegations within the organization as well as allegations of financial improprieties.
This organization’s dysfunction has already come back to cost them, with their bid for a new stadium being dismissed on Thursday due to “too many issues and controversies surrounding the team for legislation to proceed.”
The bottom line is that the Commanders organization is a dumpster fire. It looks like Rivera may be the only piece worth salvaging in Washington.
