Washington Football Team Hires Jason Wright; 1st Black President of an NFL Team

The Washington Football Team hired Jason Wright as its team president Monday, making the former NFL running back the first Black team president in NFL history.

Wright, 38, played seven NFL seasons before transitioning to the business world. He was most recently a partner at McKinsey & Company, a management consulting firm with offices across the world.

"The transformation of the Washington Football Team is happening across all aspects of the organization—from football to operations to branding to culture—and will make us a truly modern and aspirational franchise," Wright said in a statement.

Wright will also become the youngest team president in the NFL. He will be in charge of the franchise's business operations, leading the team in its rebuilding effort—both in terms of business and culture.

Washington owner Dan Snyder called him a "proactive and assertive advocate for inclusion of all people" in a statement:

"If I could custom design a leader for this important time in our history, it would be Jason. His experience as a former player, coupled with his business acumen, gives him a perspective that is unrivaled in the league. We will not rest until we are a championship caliber team, on and off the field. Jason has a proven track record in helping businesses transform culturally, operationally and financially. He is a proactive and assertive advocate for inclusion of all people and will set new standards for our organization, and for the league. There could not be a better duo than Jason Wright and Coach Ron Rivera as we usher in a new era for Washington Football."

Snyder has vowed a cultural change in the face of mounting criticism of the franchise. A Washington Post investigative report unveiled a toxic culture that included sexual harassment and mistreatment of women within the organization, resulting in the exit of several team executives. The franchise is also in the midst of rebranding from its racist former team name, a change Snyder resisted for years despite it being a dictionary-defined racial slur.

Wright told Good Morning America the reshaping of the franchise's image from its lowest point is one of the factors that led to him taking the job:

"Part of what excited me about taking this role—we had a phrase when we played that said, 'you don't talk about it, you be about it,'—and I think what I've seen from Dan and Tonya Snyder in the hiring of coach Rivera and some of the decisions they've made, to have an independent investigator come in around the sexual harassment allegations, there are actual shifts in action to suggest it's a new day, and that's why I'm excited to take this on. 

"It's a culture transformation first to make sure that we have an organization that people want to be a part of and that itself will start to expand the value of the franchise and make the good things happen."

Wright elaborated on that during an interview with 106.7 The Fan:

"The way you repair a relationship is through action as much as it is words, and I think it's through repeated engagement of the individual or group that you're trying to repair that relationship with. And so, to me, it's about touch points with fans, it's about speaking directly to the fans, being able to answer their questions. It's bringing fans into critical decisions that the team is making, like our new identity and the new face that we're gonna put out to the world. It's actually taking fans' ideas and innovative thinking into how we think about the renewed fan experience."

Wright is the fourth former NFL player to become a team president. He rushed for 633 yards and two touchdowns in stops with the San Francisco 49ers, Atlanta Falcons, Cleveland Browns and Arizona Cardinals.