Former Redskins GM Scot McCloughan "broke his weeks-long silence" in a radio interview yesterday, saying that he "bears no grudges toward his former team, that their messy breakup was a mutual event, and that he’ll continue to root for the Redskins this season," according to Dan Steinberg of the WASHINGTON POST. The end of McCloughan's tenure with the team was "ugly," as he was "told not to speak to the media, didn’t go to his beloved scouting combine, and was let go at the start of NFL free agency amid anonymous reports that alcohol was at least partly to blame for the ending." During an appearance on DC-based WJFK-FM, McCloughan told co-hosts Grant Paulsen and Danny Rouhier, "It's too bad what happened here, but it was mutual. He added, "There’s a lot of good people in this organization, from the ownership down throughout he whole building." He said players, coaches and Redskins Owner Dan Snyder were "nothing but great" to him and his family, but it "just didn’t work out." McCloughan: "It’s a good organization. It’s a really good organization. It just wasn’t meant to be." Steinberg notes McCloughan "never mentioned team President Bruce Allen, the man who seemed most integral to the GM’s arrival and to his departure." However, he did "praise the team’s front office and the people he leaves behind" (WASHINGTON POST, 5/10). ESPN.com's John Keim noted McCloughan has "returned to running the scouting service he started" after leaving the Seahawks in '14. He said that he "wasn't sure if he'd return to working in a front office" (ESPN.com, 5/9).
GET SOME MONEY BACK: In DC, Clarke & Maske report because the Redskins fired McCloughan "for cause," he was "denied the salary remaining on his four-year contract, believed to be worth" roughly $1.5M per year. He could "recoup the balance," a bit less than $3M, if he "proves he was unfairly dismissed." A source said that McCloughan has "not filed an arbitration request with the NFL," but the window for such a request "remains open." It is also "possible that the Redskins and McCloughan could reach a financial settlement of their own, but there is no evidence of ongoing talks to that end" (WASHINGTON POST, 5/10).
