A year-by-year look at Daniel Snyder’s ownership of Washington’s NFL team

Snyder opened his wallet during the offseason, signing future Hall of Famers Deion Sanders and Bruce Smith, as well as Jeff George and safety Mark Carrier. Perhaps to offset the cost of a roster owed more than $100 million in salaries and bonuses, Snyder charged fans $10 to attend training camp, which he moved from Frostburg State University to Ashburn.

The defense improved under first-year coordinator Ray Rhodes, but the offense sputtered. Snyder fired Turner one day after a 9-7 loss to the New York Giants in Week 14 dropped Washington to 7-6. Under interim coach Terry Robiskie, the team finished 8-8 and out of the playoffs.

Head coach: Norv Turner

Week 1 starting quarterback: Brad Johnson

Pro Bowl selections: Stephen Alexander, Champ Bailey, Marco Coleman, Stephen Davis

Snyder’s first of many handpicked head coaches? Marty Schottenheimer, who signed a four-year, $10 million deal after spending the previous season as a TV analyst and fired Cerrato three weeks later. Snyder promised to leave football decisions to the 57-year-old former head coach of the Cleveland Browns and Kansas City Chiefs, but after Washington started 0-5, reports emerged that Schottenheimer would probably be fired if the team did not improve significantly over the season’s final 11 games.

Washington won five straight and appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated but missed the playoffs for a second straight year. Snyder fired Schottenheimer soon after, saying, “It became clear that the Redskins and Marty had irreconcilable differences.”

Head coach: Marty Schottenheimer

Week 1 starting quarterback: Jeff George

Pro Bowl selections: LaVar Arrington, Champ Bailey, Chris Samuels

After rehiring Cerrato, Snyder took a big gamble on his next head coach, convincing Florida’s Steve Spurrier to make the jump from college to the pros. Snyder “sold me by his passion and love of the team,” the Head Ball Coach said. A five-year, $25 million deal that made him the NFL’s highest-paid coach probably didn’t hurt.

With a roster featuring five former Florida quarterbacks and wide receivers in Spurrier’s first season, the “Gatorskins” went 4-1 while averaging more than 30 points in the preseason. The honeymoon lasted through Week 1, when Shane Matthews passed for 327 yards and three touchdowns in a win over the Arizona Cardinals. Washington surpassed 30 points in only one other game and missed the playoffs.

Head coach: Steve Spurrier

Week 1 starting quarterback: Shane Matthews

Pro Bowl selections: LaVar Arrington, Champ Bailey, Chris Samuels

Spurrier’s second season with Washington was worse than his first. Despite the addition of wide receiver Laveranues Coles, the team averaged only 17.9 points and, after starting the season 3-1, lost 10 of its final 12 games.

“Okay, we wound up 5-11,” Spurrier said at what would be his final news conference with Washington. “Not very good! But there was some worse than us. I guess that’s one positive way to look at it: We weren’t the worst team in the league.” Spurrier, who would later say he didn’t have the power to pick his own quarterback with Washington, resigned a week later, and Snyder began his search for the team’s fifth head coach since he became owner.

Head coach: Steve Spurrier

Week 1 starting quarterback: Patrick Ramsey

Pro Bowl selections: LaVar Arrington, Champ Bailey, Laveranues Coles

Snyder bought himself some goodwill with an increasingly disgruntled fan base by hiring Gibbs 11 years after the three-time Super Bowl champion retired. While Cerrato remained Washington’s VP of football operations, Gibbs was given final say over roster decisions.

“Joe Gibbs helped define what the Washington Redskins stand for — integrity, hard work, determination, winning and championships,” Snyder said. “Who better to set our strategy and lead the Redskins back to championship glory?”

The following month, Washington traded Champ Bailey and a second-round pick to Denver for running back Clinton Portis. With Larry Michael calling the action from the team’s radio broadcast booth after replacing fan favorite Frank Herzog, Portis ran for a 64-yard touchdown on his first carry — a rare highlight in a 6-10 year.

Head coach: Joe Gibbs

Week 1 starting quarterback: Mark Brunell

Pro Bowl selection: Marcus Washington

Washington traded Coles to the New York Jets for Santana Moss and drafted Carlos Rogers and Jason Campbell in the first round during what was, by Snyder’s standards, a quiet offseason. Snyder added more seats to FedEx Field to increase its capacity to 91,704, the largest in the league.

After falling to 5-6 with an overtime loss to the San Diego Chargers at home in Week 12, Washington won five straight, including the regular season finale at Philadelphia, to clinch the NFC East title. Washington defeated the Buccaneers in the first round of the playoffs but lost at the Seattle Seahawks a week later. The franchise hasn’t won a playoff game since.

Head coach: Joe Gibbs

Week 1 starting quarterback: Mark Brunell

Pro Bowl selections: Santana Moss, Chris Samuels

In hopes of improving the offense, Washington hired former Chiefs assistant Al Saunders to call plays from his 700-page playbook and acquired wide receivers Brandon Lloyd and Antwaan Randle El. Meanwhile, Snyder expanded his portfolio with the purchase of three radio stations.

“If The Washington Post were for sale, I’d buy it right now,” he said at the time. “I don’t buy companies at their peak. I sell them at their peak.”

During training camp, Mark Brunell proclaimed that “anything short of going all the way would be a disappointment,” but Portis injured his shoulder in the preseason and was limited to eight games, safety Adam Archuleta was a bust, and Gregg Williams’s defense finished 27th in the league in scoring defense.

Head coach: Joe Gibbs

Week 1 starting quarterback: Mark Brunell

Pro Bowl selections: Chris Samuels, Sean Taylor

After Sean Taylor was murdered in his home in November, Snyder chartered a flight for players, coaches and other team employees to attend the Pro Bowl safety’s funeral. Washington lost an emotional game to the Buffalo Bills a week later to fall to 5-7, at which point a playoff push seemed unlikely.

Journeyman Todd Collins replaced an injured Jason Campbell in the next game and led a comeback win. Washington wouldn’t lose again during the regular season and snuck into the playoffs as a wild card. The surprising run ended with a first-round loss to the Seahawks, after which Gibbs retired for a second time.

Week 1 starting quarterback: Jason Campbell

Pro Bowl selections: Ethan Albright, Chris Cooley, Chris Samuels, Sean Taylor

Washington was set to hire former Giants coach Jim Fassel to replace Gibbs but reversed course in the wake of fan backlash and tapped quirky Seahawks quarterbacks coach Jim Zorn for the job instead. While Zorn had no previous head coaching experience, his team started 6-2 in his first season, including a Week 4 win over the Dallas Cowboys that ended with Snyder joining the postgame celebration inside the Texas Stadium locker room.

The good times of Zorn leading chants of “Hip hip hooray!” wouldn’t last: Washington lost six of eight to end the season. During the team’s late-season slide, Portis went on a local radio station and openly mocked Zorn by saying, “We got a genius for a head coach.”

Week 1 starting quarterback: Jason Campbell

Pro Bowl selections: Chris Cooley, Clinton Portis, Chris Samuels, Mike Sellers

Washington made a splash in free agency by signing defensive tackle Albert Haynesworth to a seven-year deal with a maximum value of $115 million. “It’s a lot of money, but honestly, I put more pressure on myself than what the contract will do,” Haynesworth said. Pressure or not, Haynesworth was a flop.

Zorn’s days were numbered after Washington became the first team to lose to the Lions since December 2007 in Week 3, and late in the season, Snyder fired Cerrato and hired Bruce Allen as general manager. Snyder, who was becoming increasingly unpopular with fans after a report that he had sued 125 season ticket holders asking to be released from their multiyear contracts over the past five years, called his new GM, the son of former Washington coaching legend George Allen, a “proven winner.”

Head coach: Jim Zorn

Week 1 starting quarterback: Jason Campbell

Pro Bowl selections: London Fletcher, Brian Orakpo

With Zorn gone, Snyder turned to a coach with a proven track record by signing Mike Shanahan to a five-year contract. When Washington traded for aging Donovan McNabb to replace Campbell three months later, Snyder cut short a family vacation to greet his new quarterback.

“It was necessary,” Snyder said of his team’s offseason changes at head coach, GM and quarterback. “We were 4-12 and going in the wrong direction. All of the changes are to get us going in the right direction. Obviously, the pedigree and the success of the people that I’ve brought in, you could tell we’re going in the right direction.”

McNabb was benched for Rex Grossman in December after a three-game losing streak.

Head coach: Mike Shanahan

Week 1 starting quarterback: Donovan McNabb

Pro Bowl selections: London Fletcher, DeAngelo Hall, Brian Orakpo

McNabb lasted all of one ugly season with Washington and was shipped to the Minnesota Vikings for a late-round draft pick in July. Shanahan went into the season with Grossman and John Beck as his quarterbacks. Both had their turns as the starter during a miserable year, after which Shanahan preached patience.

“Like I talked to him about when I first got here, I said, ‘Dan, if you don’t plan on me coaching here five years and doing it the right way, you’re hiring the wrong guy,'” Shanahan said at the end of his second season. “It’s going to take some time to do it right.”

A $36 million salary cap penalty (over two years) imposed on Washington by the NFL in March 2012, for the way the team structured contracts during the league’s season without a salary cap in 2010, would prove harmful down the line.

Head coach: Mike Shanahan

Week 1 starting quarterback: Rex Grossman

Pro Bowl selection: London Fletcher

At Snyder’s urging, Washington traded four draft picks, including three first-rounders, to the St. Louis Rams to move up to select Baylor’s Heisman Trophy-winning Robert Griffin III with the second pick in the draft. In a somewhat surprising move that would have major repercussions in the coming years, Washington took Michigan State’s Kirk Cousins in the fourth round.

Griffin won the starting job in training camp and led Washington to a surprising 40-32 win at the New Orleans Saints in his debut. The team was 3-6 entering its bye week but won seven straight games to end the regular season, clinching its first division title since the first year Snyder owned the team. Griffin tore his ACL in Washington’s playoff loss to Seattle and was never the same.

Head coach: Mike Shanahan

Week 1 starting quarterback: Robert Griffin III

Pro Bowl selections: Lorenzo Alexander, London Fletcher, Robert Griffin III, Ryan Kerrigan, Trent Williams

In May, Snyder gave his most definitive answer to date about his franchise’s nickname. “We’ll never change the name,” Snyder told USA Today. “It’s that simple. NEVER — you can use caps.”

Meanwhile, a rehabbing Griffin was determined to be the starter in Week 1, and he was, but he failed to re-create his magical rookie year as defenses adapted to Washington’s zone-read option. With three games remaining in the regular season, Shanahan benched Griffin in favor of Cousins. After Washington finished 3-13, Shanahan got the ax with a year remaining on his contract. “Redskins fans deserve a better result,” Snyder said in a written statement.

Head coach: Mike Shanahan

Week 1 starting quarterback: Robert Griffin III

Pro Bowl selections: Alfred Morris, Brian Orakpo, Trent Williams

Snyder signed former Cincinnati Bengals offensive coordinator Jay Gruden, who worked with Allen in Tampa Bay, to a five-year contract as head coach. Gruden expressed excitement about working with Griffin, who dislocated his ankle in Week 2 and struggled to develop as a drop-back passer upon his return.

Cousins and Colt McCoy both saw action as the starting quarterback in Gruden’s first season, which ended with seven losses over Washington’s final eight games. Snyder didn’t speak at an end-of-season news conference, but Allen assured fans that the team was “winning off the field.”

Head coach: Jay Gruden

Week 1 starting quarterback: Robert Griffin III

Pro Bowl selections: Alfred Morris, Trent Williams

In January, Snyder hired well-respected talent evaluator Scot McCloughan to serve as general manager. The move, which drew praise from fans and pundits alike, stripped Allen of his GM duties, though he remained team president.

Before the regular season opener, McCloughan and Gruden persuaded Snyder and Allen to bench Griffin in favor of Cousins, who rewrote several single-season franchise passing records while leading Washington to the NFC East title. The team lost its first-round playoff game to the Green Bay Packers at FedEx Field, where capacity had dipped to less than 82,000 following the removal of seats for the third time in five years.

Head coach: Jay Gruden

Week 1 starting quarterback: Kirk Cousins

Pro Bowl selection: Trent Williams

After several years of avoiding the “offseason champs” label by laying low in free agency, Washington signed Josh Norman to a record contract after the Carolina Panthers rescinded their franchise tag on the young cornerback. Made with McCloughan’s blessing, the move wasn’t met with as much skepticism as it probably would’ve been in previous years.

Playing on the one-year franchise tag, Cousins put up big numbers for a second straight season. But a home loss to the Giants in the final game of the regular season prevented Washington from clinching a second straight playoff berth for the first time since 1992.

Head coach: Jay Gruden

Week 1 starting quarterback: Kirk Cousins

Pro Bowl selections: Kirk Cousins, Ryan Kerrigan, Jordan Reed, Brandon Scherff, Trent Williams

In February, Cousins became the first quarterback to be franchise-tagged in consecutive years. The next month, a few days after giving Gruden a two-year contract extension in a signal of continuity, Washington fired McCloughan, with an official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, attributing the decision to the GM’s ongoing problems with alcohol.

On the field, Cousins struggled at times without wide receivers DeSean Jackson and Pierre Garcon, who departed via free agency. Washington ultimately couldn’t overcome 26 players being placed on injured reserve. Despite the disappointing season, Gruden became the first coach to be brought back for a fifth year under Snyder.

Head coach: Jay Gruden

Week 1 starting quarterback: Kirk Cousins

Pro Bowl selections: Ryan Kerrigan, Brandon Scherff, Trent Williams

During Super Bowl week, Washington traded for Kansas City veteran Alex Smith, which allowed the team to let Cousins walk in free agency. In May, Snyder hired Brian Lafemina from the league office to head business operations, and one of his first moves was acknowledging that the team’s season ticket waiting list no longer existed.

Washington drew 57,013 fans for its Week 2 game against the Indianapolis Colts, the smallest crowd for a home opener in FedEx Field’s 21-year history. The team got off to a 6-3 start before Smith broke his leg in a loss to the Houston Texans. McCoy, Mark Sanchez and Josh Johnson would all start games before another injury-marred season ended without a playoff berth. Snyder got rid of Lafemina and his key lieutenants before the year was over.

Head coach: Jay Gruden

Week 1 starting quarterback: Alex Smith

Pro Bowl selections: Ryan Kerrigan, Trent Williams

Despite the objections of Gruden and others in the front office, Washington used the 15th pick in the draft to select Ohio State quarterback Dwayne Haskins, who attended Bullis School in Potomac, Md., with Snyder’s son. Snyder fired Gruden after Washington started 0-5. Snyder fired Allen after Washington finished 3-13.

“Like our passionate fan base, I recognize we have not lived up to the high standards set by great Redskins teams, coaches and players who have come before us,” Snyder said in a statement announcing Allen’s 10-year tenure was over. “As we reevaluate our team leadership, culture and process for winning football games, I am excited for the opportunities that lie ahead to renew our singular focus and purpose of bringing championship football back to Washington D.C.”

Head coach: Jay Gruden

Week 1 starting quarterback: Case Keenum

Pro Bowl selections: Brandon Scherff, Tress Way

“First off, Happy Thanksgiving, everybody,” Snyder said before introducing Ron Rivera as Washington’s coach Jan. 2. It was an odd start to an eventful year.

Facing pressure from sponsors amid the country’s racial reckoning in the wake of George Floyd’s death, the team announced in July that it would retire its Redskins name and logo. After The Washington Post reported 15 former female employees said they were sexually harassed during their time with the team, Snyder hired attorney Beth Wilkinson to review the team’s culture. One week after Washington hired Jason Wright as its team president in August, The Post reported additional examples of workplace sexual harassment inside the organization, including some involving Snyder, which led the NFL to assume oversight of Wilkinson’s probe.

On the field, Washington won the NFC East despite a 7-9 record, and backup quarterback Taylor Heinicke nearly led an upset of the Buccaneers in the first round of the playoffs.

Head coach: Ron Rivera

Week 1 starting quarterback: Dwayne Haskins

Pro Bowl selections: Brandon Scherff, Chase Young

In March, the NFL finance committee approved a debt waiver that enabled Snyder to buy out his minority partners, who had sued him in federal court for allegedly blocking the sale of their stakes in the team. In July, the league fined Snyder $10 million and ordered him to step away from day-to-day operations of the team for at least the next several months after Wilkinson’s investigation found the team fostered a workplace culture where sexual harassment, bullying and intimidation were commonplace.

“It is now clear that the culture was not what it should be, but I did not realize the extent of the problems, or my role in allowing that culture to develop and continue,” Snyder said in a statement.

Washington finished 7-10 and missed the playoffs.

Head coach: Ron Rivera

Week 1 starting quarterback: Ryan Fitzpatrick

Pro Bowl selections: Jonathan Allen, Brandon Scherff

On Feb. 2, the team announced its new name — Commanders — and unveiled new logos and uniforms. Two weeks later, the NFL hired Mary Jo White to investigate new sexual harassment allegations against Snyder from former Washington cheerleader and marketing manager Tiffani Johnston.

In March, Washington traded for Indianapolis Colts quarterback Carson Wentz. In October, at the NFL owners’ meeting in New York, Colts owner Jim Irsay said there was “merit to remove” Snyder as owner. Less than three weeks after the team issued a statement calling Irsay’s comments inappropriate and saying the Snyders wouldn’t consider selling the team, the Snyders announced they had hired Bank of America Securities to “consider potential transactions” related to the franchise.

Washington finished 8-8-1 and missed the playoffs for the second straight year, but by the end of the season, many fans were more concerned with the sale process than the on-field results.

Head coach: Ron Rivera

Week 1 starting quarterback: Carson Wentz

Pro Bowl selections: Jonathan Allen, Terry McLaurin, Jeremy Reaves, Tress Way