The Washington Redskins decided a new regime was needed as president of football operations Bruce Allen was fired. Allen had been in that role for 10 years, but progress clearly was not made and change was needed. It was a sign that owner Dan Snyder had felt like that a front office shake up was needed and Allen was one of the first casualties of the shake up.
Allen came over from Tampa Bay with a mixed bag of results, but one thing that some had praised him for was his talent evaluation. Whether his talent evaluation should be praised is up for question, but his mixed bag of results suggest that he has found some talented players that could be built around. He was named the George Young Executive of the Year award in 2002 during his time with Oakland, so there was a lot of hype around him, but his time with Tampa Bay and the Redskins turned out to be an array of results.
Redskins fans had been clamoring for Allen's firing for a long time because of how many bad results the team had under his tenure, but it was also solidified when after Jay Gruden's firing, in a press conference, Allen had proclaimed that culture was "damn good" despite it being a bold faced lie. The team had gone through a lot of coaches, a lot of player mismanagement, and a lot of apathy had development within the fanbase. People saw through his lie and that press conference might have been the reason for his firing outside of a mediocre tenure.
This was a great move by Snyder as it was a very competent move made on his part. Some had made Allen out to be a lackey for Snyder, but that clearly wasn't the case. However, Snyder's belief in Allen had clouded his judgment of his front office decisions. One of those instances was the firing of General Manager Scot McCloughan as the team fired him for his alcohol problems. While McCloughan had tried to fend off those demons, there clearly was a power struggle happening between him and Allen, but Allen came out victorious as McCloughan was let go. The team had smeared McCloughan after his departure and while it cannot be proven that Allen orchestrated the smear campaign, it seemed obvious. Clearly Allen had brought a toxic culture to the team and the problem was needed to be eradicated. Snyder had just done that.
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