Wright: "You'll Hear More From Us"

A historic offseason for the Washington Football Team became even bigger on Monday when the team announced on ABC’s “Good Morning America” the hiring of a new team president.

Congratulations Jason Wright! @michaelstrahan talks one-on-one with the first-ever black @NFL team president who will lead @WashingtonNFL. https://t.co/6P7sdBJ5js pic.twitter.com/BKhd25EN8Y
— Good Morning America (@GMA) August 17, 2020

Jason Wright, a 38-year-old former NFL veteran with an even more impressive post-football career, becoming the first Black team president in NFL history, and also the youngest.

After his appearance on Good Morning America, Wright began to make his rounds with the local media as well. He joined the “Grant and Danny” show on 106.7 The Fan and discussed a plethora of topics about his new gig.

While Wright doesn’t officially begin his new job until next week, he was ready to answer some questions about the monumental task he has in front of him.

A frustrating topic for local media and fans alike is owner Daniel Snyder’s refusal to address the state of his franchise. Danny Rouhier started off the interview asking Wright if Snyder would be more available now that there is a new regime.

“I think you’ll just hear more from us as a club in general,” Wright said. We are of one mind, we have one vision, Dan and Tanya Snyder, Coach Rivera, myself, have a united vision around the culture, the way we want to be as a club and that does involve how we communicate with the community, how we connect with folks like you. The narrative and words we put out are going to be different, and I would say more frequent.”

In that opening statement alone, Wright won many over. Snyder and former team president, Bruce Allen, were known for avoiding accountability that included one embarrassment after another, both on the field and off. Instead of speaking to the fans or local media, Snyder and Allen sent others such as former coach Jay Gruden or former general manager Scot McCloughan to take the heat.

After his opening statement, Grant Paulsen gave Wright some background on Allen’s communication with 106.7 The Fan over his 10 years as team president. Allen gave the market’s top radio program one interview after becoming miffed with the team’s official broadcast partner.

Wright chuckled and told Grant and Danny to let him and the team know how they are doing.

Paulsen then asked Wright how he planned to repair the damage between the football team and its fan base. Wright’s response was tremendous.

“The way you repair a relationship is through action as much as it is words,” Wright said. “And I think it is through repeated engagement.”

Wow.

Wright said the team would seek feedback from fans, such as the new branding. He mentioned how not having fans in FedEx Field this fall could be a positive for the team as it can take the feedback from fans to create a new fan experience for 2021.

Washington’s game-day atmosphere has long been the worst in the NFL. And, rather than seeking feedback from the fans, ownership created a hostile environment for its own fans.

That will change under Wright.

Wright said the team will engage the fans and community on a repeated basis that demonstrates things are going to be different.

Rouhier then asked Wright about a new stadium, in which the new team president joked he hasn’t even started his job yet

“You’re killing me, man, I don’t even start until next Monday,” Wright joked before answering the question. “I’ll tell you one of the things that excited me about this role is, and I talked to Dan and Tanya about, is when I think about a stadium, it’s not just about building a cool retail complex or a real modern stadium that people will ooh and aah at. All that is really important, the architectural design is going to be fabulous, but stadiums are an economic engine for the area in which they are placed. They drive business growth, community growth.”

Wright then pivoted to the COVID-19 season ahead of the Washington Football Team and how he wanted to be a leader

Wright said he sees opportunities for moving in a new direction. He believes the organization is headed in a positive direction, but he will grind and helped lead Washington into a new culture that began with the hiring of head coach Ron Rivera.

Does he believe Snyder will stay out of his way and allow him to do his job?

You’ll learn this about me, I am a pretty straightforward, candid guy and that didn’t change in the conversations I had with Dan and Tanya Snyder,” Wright said. “And they were quite candid as well. We asked each other provocative questions, and we got honest, candid answers. And in all we discussed, I did not touch on anything nefarious, and I could not be more confident in the new direction they are trying to set. The values they espoused to me, not just about the team, but personally and how they are as a family, and that is alignment with me and makes me feel good.”

If this was a get-to-know-you from Wright to the local media and fans, well, he knocked it out of the park.

Washington’s fan base is more cynical than most. Sure, every fan base has a degree of cynicism, but for what Washington fans have endured for the past 20 years under Snyder, this fan base — what’s left of it — wants and deserves better.

Wright can be that guy.

He just needs complete empowerment from Snyder. If he — and Rivera — get that, this franchise is in good hands.

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Bryan Manning writes about the Washington Football Team for 'Washington Football' and contributes to "All Hokies" on SI.com. He 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. For his day job, Bryan works in engineering for a major communications company.