Redskins general manager Scot McCloughan’s problems with alcohol abuse helped cost him his job as the San Francisco 49ers’ GM in 2010, after being a member of the organization’s front office for five years. Personal issues also led to his resignation from the Seahawks front office three years later. After taking a year away from football, McCloughan, who is considered by many to be a football savant, had allegedly put those problems behind him when he took the job with Washington in 2015.
Former Redskins tight end and D.C. based radio analyst Chris Cooley isn’t so sure those problems haven’t resurfaced again in recent months. McCloughan hasn’t been allowed to speak with the D.C. media since the season ended, and the organization has not disclosed why. As pointed out by Washington Post columnist Dan Steinberg Wednesday, Cooley went on the air on the local ESPN 980 morning drive program he hosts, and openly speculated that the reason McCloughan hasn’t been around is that he might be drinking again.
“You start to wonder, what the hell is going on here?” Cooley said. “And I start to look at this and say, ‘Do we not trust what Scot McCloughan is going to say to the media, and is that why he’s not allowed to talk to the media?’ And if we don’t trust what he’s going to say to the media, why don’t we trust what he’s going to say to the media? Now, if you look at the history of Scot McCloughan, I think the one thing that you’d immediately start to flush out as to why we don’t trust what he’s going to say is that he’s had a drinking problem over his entire career. And so you ask right away, is he drinking?”
“It’s a totally intuitive reaction from anybody that knows the history of Scot McCloughan,” his co-host Kevin Sheehan said.
“It’s totally fair — and it’s nothing that I’ve heard or been told,” Cooley added.
Without knowing what exactly is going on, the comment would seem to be especially reckless from Cooley, who is on the Redskins’ payroll as the team’s color analyst. Of course there is also the possibility that Cooley has been fed this information from somebody within the organization, as making such a strong public accusation about a fellow team employee without any knowledge could put Cooley’s own position with the team in question.
At this point it remains unclear why exactly McCloughan hasn’t been made available. Until he is, however, speculation like this will only continue, fair or otherwise.
