The Redskins fired general manager Scot McCloughan on Thursday, the first day of free agency. The timing was odd -- but so were the events that led the organization to dump their top personnel evaluator on one of the most important days on the offseason calendar.

The problems bubbled to the surface last month when former Redskins tight end Chris Cooley, who now has a radio show on a station owned by Redskins owner Daniel Snyder, speculated on the air that McCloughan’s struggles with alcohol might have resurfaced in Washington.

But on Friday, a day after the dismissal, Cooley said that he was wrong to theorize why McCloughan was fired and denied that the Redskins were behind it.

“No one told us to do the [original] segment, told me to do the segment,” Cooley said during on his show, via the Washington Post. “Can I be more clear on that? We threw out a lot of possible reasons that he could have been silenced. That was one of them. ...I used Scot McCloughan’s name and alcohol in the same sentence, and I was wrong. I regret that. I have regretted that. This blew up to be way bigger than I expected it to be, and by the way, it blew up in a report that was in no way shape or form the context that we had suggested.”

Interestingly, a team source told the Post that McCloughan’s alcohol problems were an issue for the team.

“He’s had multiple relapses due to alcohol,” the anonymous team official said. “He showed up in the locker room drunk on multiple occasions. ... This has been a disaster for 18 months.”

Meanwhile, Cooley said he has apologized to McCloughan.

“I feel very sorry that my name’s associated with this,” he said. “I feel regret that my name’s associated with this. I’ve apologized to the organization.

“You can call me an idiot, you can call me naive, you can call me ignorant, but I didn’t see this entire firestorm that was created,” Cooley said. “I didn’t. It happened, though. I shouldn’t have mentioned his name and alcohol in any context, especially not me, because of the perception that I have some special access to this team, which by the way, is entirely overrated. ...But accusing me of being told to float something is like telling me I’m a stupid idiot. … I wouldn’t create a sinister plan. I was not part of any of this. I swear on anything you want to swear on.”

As CBS Sports NFL Insider Jason La Canfora wrote this week, the power struggle between team president Bruce Allen and McCloughan played a part in McCloughan’s ouster.

And here’s Allen’s terse statement on the decision:

“The Washington Redskins have released Scot McCloughan from the organization effective immediately,” Allen said. “We wish him success in his future endeavors. The team will have no further comment on his departure. The organization remains confident in our personnel department as we execute our free agency plans as well as prepare for the upcoming NFL Draft.”

NFL Network analyst Mike Mayock’s name has been floated as a possible candidate to replace McCloughan, as has former Buccaneers general manager Mark Dominik, who worked with Allen in Tampa. Also worth noting: The Redskins reportedly won’t hire a GM until after the draft.