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Redskins owner Dan Snyder depicted as a Jerry Jones wannabe by a former NFL executive

Dallas Cowboys vs. Washington Redskins
Washington Redskins owner Daniel Snyder, right, shakes hands with Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones on Nov. 20, 2011.
(Rob Carr / Getty Images)
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Washington Redskins fans hate the Dallas Cowboys. Always have, always will.

But does Daniel Snyder, who grew up rooting for the Redskins, still feel that way about their NFC East rivals as he enters his third decade as the Washington team’s owner?

Maybe not so much — at least not about Cowboys owner Jerry Jones.

The Washington Post published an article Tuesday on Snyder and his largely unsuccessful (a 139-180-1 record, no playoff wins since 2006, sagging attendance, a carousel of starting quarterbacks) 20 years with the Redskins. In the article, Snyder and Jones are described as allies, with one former executive of the league office stating Snyder has tried to mold himself after his Dallas counterpart.

That unnamed source told writer Adam Kilgore an amusing anecdote from 2017, when some NFL owners and officials were clashing over how to handle player protests during the national anthem.

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“Dan would repeat what Jerry was yelling,” the former executive said. “Literally, he’d sit there yelling, ‘Yeah, that’s right!’ … He wants to be Jerry when he grows up. I think he looks at the swashbuckling Jerry Jones in Dallas and says, ‘Hey, I can do that, too.’ He watches what Jerry does and mimics it in a way that just doesn’t fit.”

The “he wants to be Jerry when he grows up” part seems to fit with a view offered by or agreed upon by multiple other unnamed sources in the story — that Snyder “behaves the way a little kid imagines a rich person acts,” according to Kilgore.

Snyder, who rarely gives interviews, did not speak with the Post for the article.

Incidentally, some of the folks interviewed by Kilgore did speak highly of Snyder as a person. They include Rams coach Sean McVay, a former offensive coordinator for the Redskins who said he was grateful to Snyder for recommending him to Rams owner Stan Kroenke.

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