With dark cloud of Dan Snyder era gone, Commanders see new path forward

ASHBURN, Va. – No bus pulled away to reveal the extreme home makeover. Instead, Washington Commanders players descended the hill from their locker room to the practice fields on Wednesday to a redesigned training camp setup.

There were stands. For fans. Aluminum gleaming in the beating sun.

“I don’t know if anybody got it on camera,” punter Tress Way said after the first full practice of the preseason, “but we’re all just turning around going, ‘What the heck?’”

Washington installed bleachers along the primary practice field, along with other auxiliary tents and the team store. On Thursday, the grandstands will be filled with fans in numbers never seen during Dan Snyder’s ownership of the team, an era marked by scandal and the erosion of support from the fan base over two decades. But with Josh Harris and a new ownership group running the show, the entire training camp experience will be different – for fans and players.

“It feels different,” said Way, entering his 10th season with the team. “It’s just this clean slate and ‘Let’s go, let’s play some ball.’

“It gives us this whole new vibe.”

Along with that fresh start, the players have also gained something else: expectations.

New ownership provides a spark

Inside the locker room, Way said, players could only shut out so much when it came up to Snyder's most recent transgressions – from the toxic workplace accusations to substantiated sexual harassment claims and the team's financial improprieties, which resulted in a $60 million fine for Snyder on his way out of the league.

Head coach Ron Rivera and the players were left to deal with the fallout from the latest scandal. And the fans soured, with the organization dropping from first in the league in attendance 15 years ago to dead last in 2022.

“Nothing against the fans that were there, but you heard a lot of, ‘Oh, we're not coming to the games because of this, this, and that,’” running back Antonio Gibson said. “I'm not going to say it specifically, but now that things have changed, you know, hopefully that would change some of those opinions right there.”

In recent weeks, Gibson said “you had no choice but to notice” the changing fan attitudes as the sale was finalized and Harris began presenting his vision for the organization. The positive memes on social media were one example, Gibson said.

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Standing in a white shirt and red Commanders hat, Harris spent the majority of practice speaking with team legend Joe Theismann. Mitchell Rales, a minority stakeholder in the ownership group, was also in attendance.

“It created some extra motivation because you have someone behind you that’s (important),” safety Darrick Forrest said. “He’s trying to change the culture and motivate us to do better.”

Quarterback Sam Howell, who is in the driver’s seat for the starting job as he enters his second NFL season, said he was “super excited” by Harris’ presence.

“Obviously super grateful for him taking over the team,” Howell said. “I think it's an awesome deal for us. The fans are excited. There's a lot of momentum for the team.”

During one of the team’s meetings Wednesday afternoon, Harris addressed the players as a group for the first time. It was be an opportunity for them to hear the specifics of his vision and expectations.

“That's one of the things I've really appreciated in my conversations with Mr. Harris and his partnership group,” Rivera said. “They've all been great in terms of our conversations and just listening to what the standard is.”

Heightened expectations

From veterans to new players and rookies to the coaching staff, Way said he can’t remember a universal buzz comparable to the one that has run through the Washington locker room this week.

“It’s one of those things you don’t see,” Way said, “you just kind of feel.”

Way will have a visual image soon. The team is expecting at least 10,000 fans to show up for Saturday’s open practice. Rivera is counting on fans to arrive “hopefully en masse.”

“Which brings a little bit of energy,” Rivera said of the expanded bleachers setup. “It does bring a little bit of a spark.

He added: “I think it's gonna be dynamic and electric. I'm excited about it. I really am. I think our players will feed off of it as they fed off (Wednesday).”

Displaying normalcy to the new bosses is Rivera’s current priority, he said.

“It's really about coming out, practicing, practicing with the right tempo, being organized, having guys in place,” said Rivera, who will spend time after Thursday’s practice speaking further with Harris. “Yeah, it is a bit of an audition, but at the same time, I can't worry so much about that as much as getting this football team ready to play.”

For Howell, channeling the momentum from the fan base is an “awesome opportunity."

“It's our job as players to go out there and capitalize on the field,” Howell said.

Way said there are expectations and pressure leading into every season. Despite winning the NFC East in 2020, the Commanders have never had a winning record under Rivera, who is entering his fourth season at the helm. For 2023, the punter called the pressure “fun” and the level of expectations “cool.”

“I’m a little more emotionally invested having been around here for a while,” Way said. “It’d be really fun to do something special this year for the fans, for the team and for the organization in such a big year that means so much to the whole community.”

Follow Chris Bumbaca on Twitter @BOOMbaca.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Washington Commanders see new path ahead with Dan Snyder gone