If you want to keep your job in any industry, it’s probably not a good idea to insult your employer, but that’s exactly what Ricky Jean-Francois did, and his comments might have played a small part in his release on Wednesday.
When the Redskins decided to cut Francois, the general line of thinking was that they made the move to save some money under the salary cap. By releasing the veteran defensive lineman, the Redskins immediately picked up $3 million in cap space for the 2017 season.
Although Jean-Francois was believed to be on the chopping block heading into the offseason, he was still perplexed by the team’s decision to cut him.
According to Pro Football Talk, Jean-Francois thought he was definitely going to be on the Washington roster in 2017 and was “surprised” that he was released.
Apparently, it appears that he might have helped seal his own fate with the Redskins when he ripped the team during an interview with SB Nation radio on March 9.
Stating two facts: Ricky Jean-Francois spoke out against the Redskins' front office six days ago. He was released today. https://t.co/yu1qYQ1tjB
— Grant Paulsen (@granthpaulsen) March 15, 2017
In the interview, which took place just before Washington fired general manager Scot McCloughan, Jean-Francois said the team was getting back to its dysfunctional ways.
Ricky Jean Francois Joins The Sean Salisbury Show https://t.co/0902tWsYvj via @audioBoom #redskins
— Sean Salisbury Show (@SSalisburyShow) March 9, 2017
“It just seems like we’re getting back to the norm, we’re getting back to the dysfunctional, we’re getting back to the drama,” Jean-Francois said. “It just feels like at no given time we’ve never had that period, where we were just comfortable with everything and everything was just running smooth.”
The fact that Jean-Francois is saying that “drama” and being “dysfunctional” is the “norm” in Washington probably didn’t sit well with the Redskins.
In the interview, Jean-Francois also mentions the fact that the Redskins lost DeSean Jackson, Pierre Garcon and defensive lineman Chris Baker to free agency. Host Sean Salisbury also piled on the Redskins by mentioning the fact that they lost both their offensive and defensive coordinators. Salisbury also brought up the drama surrounding McCloughan.
From the outside looking in, it’s hard to disagree when someone says the Redskins have had a dysfunctional offseason. Jean-Francois was so adamant about his point that he actually tweeted about it, too.
C mom son pic.twitter.com/r5woX1tSJa
— Ricky Jean Francois (@Rbjf_99) March 9, 2017
Jean-Francois will be able to tweet anything he wants about the Redskins now, since he’s no longer with the team.
The moral of the story here seems to be: You probably don’t want to talk bad about your employer if they’re scheduled to pay you millions.