- 4 hours ago
It’s officially been three years since Josh Harris purchased the Washington Commanders. What grade would you give Josh Harris and his crew since taking over?
Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00And how would you grade this ownership group
00:02that's taken over from Dan Snyder
00:04through the first three years?
00:06What sort of grade would you give them?
00:09I'll chime in first.
00:10I'd give them an A-.
00:13Number one got stadium deal done.
00:15Yep.
00:15That was a huge deal.
00:16The previous owner couldn't get it done.
00:18We had the mayor in studio a couple of times
00:20and the mayor basically said
00:21it wasn't going to happen with Snyder.
00:24So that's huge.
00:25I think all the little things along the way,
00:28all the ceremonies that they have done,
00:30the way that they're going to honor John Riggins,
00:32they've done it to other players in the past.
00:34Darryl Green and Art Monk most specifically.
00:36And they've hit home runs on all of those ceremonies
00:38compared to the way the previous regime botched everyone,
00:43whether it was announcing the team name
00:45embarrassingly on the Today Show.
00:47The Sean Taylor installation.
00:49The Sean Taylor installation go on and on and on.
00:51And then they've done a lot of little things.
00:54I wrote about this in Faith Restored.
00:56They've done a lot of things like
00:57improve the training camp experience
00:59where they didn't have seats for people.
01:01It's a lot nicer out there.
01:02People who showed up to training camp
01:04used to have to bring their own chairs
01:05like parents do to soccer games.
01:07Right, right.
01:07Which is not the biggest deal,
01:08but they were like,
01:10why don't we put bleachers in here?
01:11Mm-hmm.
01:12And they immediately,
01:15Harris and Ein and those guys,
01:17they got with the players.
01:18Yep.
01:18And these are not things that we see,
01:20but got with the players and said,
01:21well, what do you need?
01:22And basically gave them everything.
01:24They're like, you want a player's lounge?
01:25Okay, we'll give you a player's lounge.
01:27Well, they saw all those failing grades
01:28from the NFLPA surveys that were coming out.
01:31They were frankly embarrassing for the organization,
01:33and they've sought to rectify and right.
01:37They've done a good job at it, too.
01:38A lot of those wrongs that basically crumbled
01:41and fell apart during the Snyder era.
01:43And then I'll give the A-2 that,
01:45look, last year was bad in terms of record,
01:48but Harris has hired Adam Peters and Dan Quinn,
01:53and he stayed out of their way.
01:55And he's basically said,
01:56what do you guys need?
01:57And he's tried to fulfill those needs.
02:00It's up to the players and the coaches
02:02to deliver wins,
02:03but they did get to the NFC Championship game,
02:05which you need credit for.
02:07So in three years, you've had,
02:08I would say the highlights are
02:10NFC Championship game, stadium deal,
02:13and all those little things.
02:14I can't argue it other than
02:17what's most important to me as a fan
02:19is not the stadium.
02:20Right.
02:20I could care less about the stadium.
02:22It's what goes on on the field.
02:23Right, and the stadium's going to be awesome,
02:26and I support it.
02:26It's great.
02:27It's a big deal for our fans, though.
02:29It's not what I care about.
02:30I know you don't,
02:31but you know by doing this show
02:32how many people care about the stadium
02:34getting back to D.C.
02:35Of course, we want nice, cool things.
02:37But what's most important
02:38is what's on the field,
02:39and it's not really his fault
02:42because he kind of inherited it,
02:44but the first year they won four games.
02:46Then they had the blip,
02:48and then they won five games.
02:50So from a record perspective,
02:52under the ownership,
02:53it hadn't been great.
02:54Well, I don't count the first year.
02:56I don't count the first year.
02:56I understand because he inherited it all.
02:58They bought it so late,
02:59and they couldn't whack Ron at that point.
03:01It's fine.
03:02Like a few days away from training camp.
03:04Fair enough.
03:04It was just bad circumstance.
03:05That's a fair criticism,
03:06but it's still on his resume.
03:08Tom Harris, I'm going to have that expunged
03:10from my record.
03:11I don't think he can delete it.
03:12What's your grade, Cakes?
03:12I give him a B-plus overall.
03:14B-plus.
03:14It's similar to mine.
03:15I'm close to an A.
03:17Like you mentioned,
03:18the ceremonies,
03:19they've done right.
03:21They're not taking pictures
03:22near the porta-potties
03:23with Sean Taylor Avenue
03:25or Sean Taylor.
03:26Nothing embarrassing like that
03:28is happening.
03:29They blew out Ron and company
03:31as soon as they could.
03:33They couldn't do it
03:34as soon as they took over
03:34because the season was starting
03:36in a month and a half.
03:37They were up against it time-wise
03:39and they just couldn't get rid of Ron
03:42at that point.
03:43I'll give him a B-plus as well.
03:45I can see where Eric's coming from.
03:47I wiped that first year off the map.
03:49That doesn't even factor into my mind.
03:53He hired some really good people.
03:55Yes.
03:55As opposed to what Snyder had there.
03:58He had some bad people there.
03:59Klaus is another guy we mentioned
04:01talking about hiring good people.
04:03Yeah.
04:03Like, they're doing all the right things
04:05whether it's, you know,
04:06the uniform stuff,
04:08the value meals.
04:09And the stadium deal is a huge deal
04:11but that's so far down the road
04:13I really can't even picture it.
04:14I know it's a big deal
04:15in terms of getting the fans excited
04:17in the future
04:18but I'm kind of with Bickle
04:19and what have they done for me lately.
04:21Ultimately, what matters
04:22is on the field.
04:23But, again,
04:24if this doesn't happen this year
04:26where they get back to the playoffs,
04:28that grade is going to slip considerably
04:30because...
04:31It's going to slip to a C.
04:32Because the people that you hired
04:34have now failed in back-to-back years.
04:36If they win like five or six games this year,
04:39that's like a C.
04:40Yeah, I agree.
04:40It's like you haven't really gotten that much better.
04:42So, I'll give them a B-plus now
04:43because I think they hired a lot of good people.
04:45They improved the training camp.
04:49Ashburn is much nicer than it used to be.
04:51There's some really good people over there
04:52but it also comes down to
04:54how many wins you get on the field.
04:55And if they go 6-11,
04:58you're probably going to dump to a C-minus.
05:00800-636-1067.
05:03Give us your grades
05:04on the first three years
05:06of Josh Harris
05:07and the ownership group
05:09taking over the commanders
05:10from Dan Snyder.
05:12And if you grade it on a curve,
05:13I mean, they get A-pluses across the board.
05:15Because they're coming from Dan?
05:17Well, Dan Snyder's ownership was so terrible.
05:18Obviously, it's a massive upgrade from Dan.
05:20Right now, that's impossible to argue.
05:22And if you talk about just the purchase
05:24and the investment,
05:25that's an A with 20-pluses
05:27because they bought it for $6.05 billion
05:30three years ago
05:31and the Seahawks just sold for $9-plus billion.
05:35So, I mean, this is already
05:37a hugely fruitful investment for Harris.
05:40I never worried about his portfolio.
05:42I'm not worried about his portfolio.
05:43Trust me.
05:44But as far as purchases go,
05:46it was a great buy.
05:48It was a bargain.
05:48Let's just get back to the winning ways.
05:52Let's find our way.
05:53If we could find our way back into the playoffs,
05:55I think all will be good.
05:56But if they're outside the playoffs,
06:00that would be three losing seasons out of four.
06:03I think at some point,
06:04you have to acknowledge that
06:06despite all the goodwill,
06:08despite the new stadium,
06:11what ultimately matters,
06:12from my perspective as a huge fan,
06:15is what they do on Sunday.
06:17And so far,
06:18we've had one amazing year
06:21and two duds.
06:22I just don't know how the owner...
06:24The owner can control it to an extent.
06:27I think he's brought in good people.
06:29I mean, ultimately, we'll see.
06:31The guy owns other teams.
06:33He fires people.
06:34Yeah.
06:35Oh, yeah.
06:35I think he tries to bring in good people
06:37like Bob Myers,
06:39guys who are respected,
06:40guys who've won executive of the year.
06:42And ultimately,
06:43we'll decide if Adam Peters
06:45and Dan Quinn were good hires.
06:48This year's huge for both of those guys.
06:51And that'll affect Josh Harris's...
06:54Your opinion of Josh Harris.
06:55All right.
06:55Let's go to...
06:56Let's go to Reggie in D.C.
06:58Love Reggie.
06:59Hey, Reggie.
07:00What's up, buddy?
07:01You're all with the jokes.
07:01What's going on, Reggie?
07:02Hey, man.
07:03What's going on, fellas?
07:03How are you, buddy?
07:04Hello, Reggie.
07:05Hey, EB.
07:06I'm like you.
07:06I'm going to keep it strictly on the field.
07:09Even though I love all the ancillary stuff,
07:11I'm giving it an A-
07:12because I've been listening to you guys
07:14and, you know,
07:1625, 26, 27 years.
07:17Thank you, man.
07:18That 2024,
07:20the lows, right?
07:21I don't want to say we're kind of used to lows, EB,
07:23but we're used to the lows.
07:24That high,
07:25we've never experienced.
07:27I'm going to say,
07:27us as fans of the...
07:29It was incredible.
07:30Us fans.
07:31Us P1s.
07:32We've never experienced 2024.
07:35The RG3 year 2012,
07:39it was fun,
07:40but I remember listening to the show.
07:42We were 7-5.
07:43I think we were going on a bye week
07:45and we lost to Pittsburgh
07:47and everybody was like,
07:49okay, what's going on?
07:50You know, it was like...
07:51I think we were 3-6 that year.
07:53I think they were 3-6.
07:54No, no, no, no.
07:54I'm talking about 2024.
07:56I'm talking about 2024.
07:57I'm talking about the championships.
07:58Okay.
07:58Yeah, we were 7-5
08:00and didn't lose again.
08:02Every morning,
08:03that victory Monday,
08:04because I remember, like,
08:06I think Cakes were playing the Titanic
08:07like week five.
08:10I know, it was a different time, right?
08:12Yes, but 2024.
08:14So, you're right, though.
08:16If we don't make the playoffs this year,
08:18then, yeah, we got to recalibrate.
08:20But, I mean, you can't count year one.
08:21They bought the team, like,
08:23freaking preseason or whatever.
08:25They bought year one.
08:25I get it.
08:26It's on its record.
08:26But if you look at year two
08:28and year three,
08:30the high of year two
08:31far outweighs the disappointment
08:34in year three.
08:35And I was disappointed last year.
08:36By the way, Reggie,
08:39what is your outlook for this year?
08:41Just knowing that the schedule,
08:43I like what they've done,
08:44but the schedule does scare me.
08:47Okay, it scares me,
08:48but I'm going to be like
08:50all these other cities.
08:51We got a quarterback.
08:52Yeah.
08:52Like, it's crazy because
08:53every other city that,
08:55you know, the Mahomes,
08:55he's coming back from injury.
08:56I know he's proven.
08:57But every city that has a quarterback
08:59has an optimistic view
09:01because of the quarterback.
09:02Yeah.
09:02The ones that don't,
09:03the Minnesotans,
09:04the Arizonans,
09:05you know,
09:05well, if this and that.
09:07Jayden,
09:08you give me 15 games,
09:1016 games,
09:11I feel confident
09:12we're going to have
09:12nine, 10 wins.
09:13All right, George.
09:14Reggie, let me ask you this.
09:17If they don't make the playoffs,
09:18do you think Peters
09:19makes a coaching change?
09:21He has to.
09:22Yeah.
09:22He has to.
09:23Like, again,
09:24if you're telling me
09:25he plays 15 games
09:26and we don't make the playoffs
09:28and you got two rookie
09:31OC and DC
09:33and they wet the bed,
09:34they got to go
09:35because you're the one
09:36that made the decision
09:36with, you know,
09:37with the first DC
09:38who, you know,
09:39just crashed and burned
09:40and you are a defensive guy.
09:42So, yeah,
09:43you almost have to.
09:44Like, what would be
09:45the reason to keep him
09:47if you're going
09:48back-to-back years
09:49of failures
09:50and then you cleared out
09:51the whole coaching staff?
09:52So, the only next logical move
09:54would be you.
09:55But I just don't see it.
09:58I think this team
09:59is going to come out
10:00the gates firing
10:02especially defense.
10:03Defense, we were old.
10:05I can't wait.
10:06Just look at all the speed
10:07and look at all the youth
10:09on defense.
10:09I think we're going to come out
10:10and surprise a lot of people
10:11this year.
10:12Thank you, Reggie.
10:12Appreciate you, buddy.
10:13Love you.
10:15Reggie's great.
10:16All right, let's go to Mo
10:16in Largo.
10:17Hey, Mo.
10:18What's up, man?
10:19What do you think?
10:20Grade Josh Harris.
10:22Good morning, gentlemen.
10:23Thank you for taking my call.
10:25Personally, I think
10:26he's done very well.
10:27I give him an A.
10:29And my grade
10:30transcends the field.
10:31I mean, it's both.
10:33I mean, we didn't just
10:33hire him to make decisions
10:35on the field.
10:35We hired him to take care
10:36of decisions off the field, too.
10:38And you guys
10:39illuminated the stadium deal.
10:41You know, his conscious
10:43effort to address
10:45needs from the fans.
10:46You know what I'm saying?
10:47And then to take care of the,
10:48you know, the old players.
10:50And then not to mention,
10:51we went to an NFC championship
10:53in the second year.
10:54I mean, we haven't done
10:55anything in decades.
10:57So, you know,
10:58based upon what I've viewed
11:00so far and what I can ask
11:01for from an owner,
11:03he's done very well.
11:04And on top of that,
11:05he hasn't been
11:07looking for praise,
11:08if that makes any sense.
11:09Like, he's done
11:10such great work.
11:10And it's not like
11:11he's out there like,
11:12hey, look at me.
11:13Look what I've done
11:13for the organization.
11:14No, he's keeping
11:15his head down.
11:16He's staying quiet.
11:16He's allowing the people
11:17that he's elevated
11:18into positions
11:19to make the moves
11:20necessary for this
11:21organization to move forward.
11:23One more thing.
11:24Cakes.
11:25Yep.
11:25Question for you.
11:26Yep.
11:26Okay.
11:27My dad totes himself
11:28as quite the poker player.
11:30Okay.
11:30And, you know,
11:31he sent me a picture
11:32from being at the table
11:33with you.
11:34Yeah.
11:34Would you rate him
11:35as a strong player?
11:36He says he cashed in
11:37on your game.
11:38I guess he came in.
11:39You know what?
11:40I'll be honest.
11:41I remember your dad
11:42being there.
11:43I don't remember
11:44being involved
11:45in many hands with him,
11:46so it would be
11:47You weren't observing?
11:48It would be remiss of me
11:49to grade your dad.
11:50And look,
11:51I'm just an average
11:52poker player.
11:52I shouldn't be grading
11:53anybody's poker skills
11:54that are at the tables
11:57whatsoever.
11:57You're the expert, Jake.
11:58You know what?
11:59I'm just glad he came out
12:00and I'm expecting maybe
12:01you to come out
12:02to one of the events
12:02in the near future.
12:04There you go, Mom.
12:04If he cashed,
12:05he's a pretty good player.
12:07I'm not a poker player,
12:08but if you guys
12:08have a cash skins game
12:10on the golf course,
12:11I'm there,
12:11but I'm not a big poker player.
12:12Maybe we'll make that happen.
12:14I would say if he cashed,
12:15Thank you, Moe.
12:16Appreciate you, buddy.
12:17Yep.
12:17What?
12:18If he cashed in Cakes' event,
12:19I'd say pretty good player.
12:20Sure, probably.
12:21I mean, you could have
12:21a lucky run, but...
12:23I mean, only about 10%
12:24of the field makes the cash,
12:25so, yeah.
12:27It's a pretty good competition.
12:27But you were not...
12:28Was he at your table
12:29a couple times?
12:30For a short period of time
12:31and then I got bounced
12:32and then I watched Mike Maher
12:33try to make a deep run.
12:35Was he equally as polite as Moe?
12:37He was very nice.
12:38I can't remember.
12:39Did Maher cash?
12:40He did not.
12:41Oh, he was just right
12:42out of the bubble?
12:42He was close.
12:43He was a few spots away.
12:44I came in 17th
12:46and top nine cashed.
12:47All right.
12:48Admirable effort.
12:49I had so much fun that night.
12:50Did you?
12:51Between Voltaggio,
12:52pre-gaming at the MGM Sports Bar
12:54and then afterwards...
12:55Were you pounding drinks
12:56the whole time?
12:56No.
12:57No, no.
12:57He was on a solid pace.
12:59Nothing crazy.
13:00It's a work night.
13:01Yeah, maybe I had like four
13:03throughout the course of the night.
13:04That's solid while you're at the table.
13:06Yeah, and we were...
13:06I mean, I played for like
13:07three and a half hours.
13:08Nice.
13:08It was a lot of fun, though.
13:09He was locked in.
13:11All right, you can go vote right now
13:12on the Junks Poll of the Day
13:14at Junks Radio on Twitter.
13:15Brought to you by Surfside Iced Tea and Vodka
13:17or Surfside Lemonade and Vodka
13:19this summer.
13:20Grab a Surfside,
13:21your go-to canned cocktail
13:22made with real vodka,
13:23only 100 calories,
13:24zero bubbles.
13:25It's not a seltzer.
13:27It's Surfside.
13:27Must be 21.
13:28Please drink responsibly.
13:30Our Drink Surfside Poll of the Day.
13:32After three years of owning the team,
13:33how would you grade Josh Harris
13:35and the ownership group?
13:37You have A, B, C, D, or lower.
13:40Those are your choices.
13:41Go and vote right now.
Comments