Foster was arrested in November on his second domestic violence charge in '18GETTY IMAGES
There was a "strong sense of shock and dismay" among NFL teams when the Redskins claimed LB Reuben Foster on waivers last week, after being the "only team to place a waiver claim" on the player, according to Jason La Canfora of CBSSPORTS.com. The Redskins have been ridiculed for the "ham-handed way" in which they have addressed the signing. However, within the NFL, the move is "being viewed" as the work of Redskins Owner Dan Snyder and President Bruce Allen, with other teams "baffled as to why they would make a claim" for a player who is unable to play this season while the incident is investigated. One prominent team exec said of the Redskins move, "It reflects poorly on the entire league. It makes all of us look bad" (CBSSPORTS.com, 12/2). ESPN.com's John Keim noted Redskins Senior VP/Player Personnel Doug Williams had "caught heat both inside and outside the organization" after comments he made addressing the team's claiming of Foster (ESPN.com, 11/30).
STARTS AT THE TOP: In DC, Thomas Boswell wrote Snyder "can't or won't be changed" after 20 years of owning the team. The trajectory of the Redskins' popularity "now seems cast in stone: down, down, down, year after year." At this rate of "fan alienation, Snyder's team probably will fall behind" the Capitals and Nationals in "local popularity within a decade." Boswell: "Who knew that a relationship between a town and a team, begun 81 years ago, might someday be so deeply impaired by just one man who, while born and raised here, reflects the values and behaviors of so few of us?" (WASHINGTONPOST.com, 11/30).
