What "Dirt" Does Daniel Snyder Have on NFL Owners and Roger Goodell?

Ahead of the Washington Commanders (1-4) introducing their particular brand of unwatchable football to a national audience on Thursday Night Football against the Chicago Bears (2-3) in what will surely be a terrible game, ESPN dropped a story about team owner Daniel Snyder that contains a number of notable nuggets.

Among ESPN’s findings on Snyder…

Snyder believes the NFL can’t “fuck” with him because he has “dirt” on fellow owners, coaches and executives that’s been collected from sources including private investigative firms: “He never says exactly what he knows, only that in his 23 years as owner of the Washington Commanders, he knows a lot. And that in the zero-sum world of billionaires, this is how you survive. Snyder recently told a close associate that he has gathered enough secrets to ‘blow up’ several NFL owners, the league office and even commissioner Roger Goodell.”
Snyder has told associates he won’t give up his franchise without a fight: “The NFL is a mafia,” the 57-year-old recently told an associate. “All the owners hate each other.” (Another owner’s response: “That’s not true. All the owners hate Dan.”)
Goodell wants Snyder out: “Goodell is always taking the temperature of owners, and his main job is to protect them. He won’t put Snyder’s fate to a vote unless he knows the result wanted by three-quarters of the owners, says a team executive close to Goodell: ‘But I know Roger wants this off his plate — he wants Snyder gone tomorrow.’”
Even Dallas owner Jerry Jones is sick of Snyder: “In recent weeks, Snyder has personally and repeatedly asked Jones to have his back and to persuade fellow owners not to throw him out. But a source says Jones told Snyder he might not be able to help, indicating that support for Snyder has slipped.”

Speaking to The Athletic, a Commanders spokesperson strongly disputed the veracity of ESPN’s report. “It’s hard to imagine a piece that is more categorically untrue and is clearly part of a well-funded, two-year misinformation campaign to coerce the sale of the team, which will continue to be unsuccessful,” per the spokesperson.

ESPN also got a rebuttal from the team: “Owners have a shared love of the game, mutual respect for each other and our organizations, and a strong working relationship.”

That relationship will be put to the test next week when the NFL’s owners gather in New York for a quarterly meeting.