Free Agency: The Dan Snyder Era Is Finally Over

OK, technically the era is not over.

Snyder still is the owner of the Redskins, but this is defiantly the end of an era. It may be a little premature, but this free agency has proven what I've been hoping ever since Mike Shanahan came on board: Snyder is done interfering in football matters.

I got to say, as I checked various sports websites on the first day of free agency, I almost thought something must be wrong. I had expected the Redskins to have signed some big name player at least by noon, but nothing came.

I was never sold on the whole Snyder is done interfering thing. Just because Snyder hired a big name coach doesn't mean he's done. No matter what, at the end of the day Snyder is paying the bills, and that means he's calling the shots.

There was no one that could stop him from interfering. Fortunately, he finally realized, in a nutshell, that he's just not good at this.

Of course the off-season isn't over yet. In 2008 many people thought Snyder had refrained from making any big moves, only for him to hand over a bunch of draft picks for Jason Taylor in training camp.

Still, the first hurtle has been cleared. No Julius Peppers, Carlos Dansby, or Anquan Boldin will be wearing burgundy and gold.

The only signing has been the relatively low profile signing of OL Artis Nicks. The only other two players the Redskins seriously pursued right out the gate were Chad Clifton and Tony Pashos, both non-blockbuster offensive tackles.

While the Redskins are now looking at a few other players, since these are players that were not signed in the first few days of free agency they should not demand a big price tag.

Altogether, this off-season so far has just been amazingly Snyder uneventful. No attempts at big name free agents, no high profile trades, at least not yet (for the love of god don't go for Brandon Marshall.) Hopefully, this points toward the thing Redskins fans have been hoping for years: Snyder is done interfering, and an era is over.