The Washington Redskins were willing to take a chance on Reuben Foster despite the former first-round pick being arrested for domestic violence multiple times this year, and one of the team’s executives spent some time trying to defend the decision on Thursday.
During his weekly appearance on The Team 980, Redskins vice president of player personnel Doug Williams said he understands the backlash from the team claiming Foster off waivers but insisted there was “a lot of thought that went into it.” He also refuted a report that claimed all members of Washington’s front office were not on board with bringing Foster in.
“When I read that, I was trying to find out who wasn’t united,” Williams said, as transcribed by Scott Allen of The Washington Post. “…In every organization and every business, everything else, I’m sure they got some leakers who might say something and people take it and run with it … Nobody that was in my room was thumbs down.”
At one point in the interview, Williams seemed to be justifying the decision to claim Foster by pointing out that plenty of NFL teams have taken chances on players with character concerns.
“I could sit here, and I won’t, name a bunch of teams that took on players that got a lot of baggage that nobody’s saying anything about,” he said. “You can’t get into nitpicking what they do and what you do. You gotta look at it from your standpoint. There was a lot of thought that went into it.”
The Redskins have said there’s a chance Foster will never play for them, which is pretty much a given since the linebacker is currently on the Commissioner’s Exempt List. No matter how Williams tries to justify it, the fact that Washington prioritized football over character and claimed Foster in the wake of the latest allegations against him says plenty about where their priorities lie.
