Manning: "Allen has made Washington a laughingstock around the league."

Bruce Allen is in serious danger of being pushed out the door (finally) at Redskins Park. Bryan Manning takes Allen to task for many of his short-comings and disastrous decisions.

Could Bruce Allen finally be on his way out?

According to Mike Garafolo of the NFL Network, owner Daniel Snyder is considering massive changes to the organization. When pressed if the changes excluded Allen, Garafolo insisted Snyder was considering ALL changes. Our own Chris Russell wrote about this earlier today.

The first thing Washington fans must do is breathe. Fans have been calling for Allen’s job for years now—and for good reason. Not only have the Redskins gone from bad to mediocre back to dreadful under Allen’s 10-year reign at the helm of the Redskins, the public embarrassments are far more numerous.

Whether it’s the handling of Mike Shanahan’s final days in D.C., to Scot McCloughan’s hiring and dismissal to “winning off the field” and most recently the team’s handling of Trent Williams. There are far more instances we can point to, however, we’d need a book deal to discuss each of Allen’s blunders.

The problems with Allen are numerous. First, he should never have been in charge of an entire organization, especially as it pertains to choosing football players. Allen’s specialty was contract negotiations. And, well, there are issues there, too. Instead of paying market value for one of Washington’s own draft picks, Allen pinches pennies and let’s players walk. In some cases, like Preston Smith and Jamison Crowder this year, letting those players walk have been a major mistake.

Instead, Allen will sign underwhelming players like Kendall Reyes and tell everyone who will listen how he drove a hard bargain and got a deal. Yeah, Bruce, you got a deal because no one else wanted Reyes or other similar players you’ve signed over the years.

Perhaps Allen’s biggest blunder was his handling of Kirk Cousins. For whatever you think of Cousins—and it is a divisive subject—we can all agree Allen handled this situation poorly. Cousins should have been shipped to San Francisco in 2017 when Kyle Shanahan badly wanted him. It would’ve set up the Redskins with a high pick, or multiple picks, to actually kick off a much-needed rebuild.

Nope, Allen blindly insisted the Redskins were close. In fact, he’s repeated that mantra over the years when every shred of evidence suggests otherwise.

And, most recently, it was the aforementioned drama with Williams.

Allen is not a talent evaluator, but even worse, he is in a position where he would rather settle scores and win the battle of public perception than effectively do his job. So, Bruce, how has that worked out?

Men like Shanahan, McCloughan, Brian Lafemina, among others, left Ashburn with black marks on their resume due to Allen’s PR workings. The truth is, Shanahan and McCloughan’s dismissals were justified for different reasons. Unfortunately, Allen couldn’t stop there, leaking negative information to the press in order to win the court of public opinion in his and the team’s favor.

It only made things worse.

Allen has made Washington a laughingstock around the league. His dealings with Williams could have a negative impact on future players wanting to sign with the Redskins long-term. Again, Williams was not blameless in this situation, but instead of Allen remaining quiet and finding another team for Williams, he dug his heels in and went for a PR war.

Again, he lost.

Right now, the Redskins are in the middle of another historically bad season. They will certainly end the season with a top-five pick in the upcoming NFL Draft and could’ve also had an additional first-rounder for Williams as Cleveland general manager John Dorsey badly wanted the multi-time Pro Bowl offensive tackle.

Allen’s presence has created a movement on social media; #FireBruceAllen. This has certainly caught the owner’s attention as the team’s social media pages are bombarded with the hashtag in every social media post.

For Washington fans, the worst thing that could happen is winning a couple of meaningless December games. Otherwise, Snyder could talk himself into keeping Allen. Remember, Snyder doesn’t follow logic and has refused to acknowledge how bad the situation has been for years under his ownership.

Will Allen survive? For the first time in years there appears to be momentum suggesting his time in Ashburn is nearing an end. 

Bryan Manning has covered the NFL, MLB, NBA, college football and college basketball for almost 10 years for various outlets such as Bleacher Report, SB Nation, FanSided, USA Today SMG, and others. Bryan has covered the Washington Redskins for different outlets and currently co-hosts a podcast on the Virginia Tech Hokies for SB Nation. For his day job, Bryan works in engineering for a major communications company.