Washington Commanders president Jason Wright has decided to step down from his role and will function as a senior advisor before leaving the organization completely by the conclusion of the 2024 season, the franchise announced Thursday.
“This feels like the right moment for me to explore my next leadership opportunity,” Wright said in a written statement to the Washington Post’s Nicki Jhabvala and Mark Maske. “I’m extremely grateful to my Commanders colleagues, our fans and this community for all that we have accomplished these past four years, and am looking forward to the start of a very successful season for the Burgundy and Gold.”
Wright has served as the Commanders’ team president for the past four seasons. He is the first Black team president in NFL history.
The 42-year-old oversaw the franchise’s much needed overhaul from its old team name to the Washington Football Team and finally the Washington Commanders. Wright was brought on board during former disgraced owner Dan Snyder’s tenure and was one of the most outspoken public defenders of the organization.
After experiencing much pressure to do so, Snyder sold the Commanders to a group led by Philadelphia 76ers owner Josh Harris last summer. While Wright stayed on for the 2023 campaign to help guide the franchise through the minefield of its two ownership eras, it was always known internally as well as around football circles that Harris would look for his own team president.
Embed from Getty Images“I am incredibly proud of what we have accomplished over the past four years,” Wright said in a statement released Thursday, via The Athletic. “Together with an amazing team of professionals, we have taken this franchise through a period of immense challenge and uncertainty and have transformed it. We’ve set the table for an incredibly bright future under owner Josh Harris’ leadership. Over just the past year, we’ve welcomed record numbers of fans back into our building, made meaningful improvements to the fan experience, re-engaged with corporate partners, and reconnected with the community. Most importantly, we re-established a culture of respect in this organization.”
It was no secret about Wright’s desire to explore his own opportunities, as he was a finalist to succeed Mark Murphy as the Green Bay Packers’ president and CEO earlier this year. His contract with the Commanders was set to expire next month, and it is within the realm of possibilities that he will leave the organization before next season ends if he finds a new position.
A former NFL running back from 2004-2010, Wright arrived in the nation’s capital in August of 2020 as the first Black president of an NFL team in the league’s history. The Commanders hired Wright in large part due to his business savvy.
Harris and executive Tad Brown are expected to spearhead the search for a new Commanders president.
