Washington Redskins Have a Leaking Problem, and It's Because of the Front Office, Says a Former Player

Tyler Polumbus and Will Montgomery, two former offensive linemen in Washington who played together from 2011-2013 appeared on a podcast (h/t: Washington Post). They discussed the culture of leaking information to the media prevalent in Washington, which Polumbus characterized as not normal.

Here’s one funny example, from when the team made the switch to Kirk Cousins and benched Robert Griffin III.

"“He [head coach Mike Shanahan] says, ‘Look, guys. This is a closed-doors meeting. Whatever we say in here does not escape this room. Do you understand me? Does every man in this room understand me? I’m about to tell you something that I expect to not hit the media until game day,’ ” Polumbus said. “And it was when he was benching Robert for Kirk, and he said, ‘I’m going to go ahead and make a change at QB this week, and we’re putting Kirk in there, but this does not escape this room.’ Literally by the time I got back to my locker and pulled up my Twitter, it was a million different reporters saying, ‘Undisclosed player just told me that Kirk Cousins will be starting at QB this week.’ ”"

And while a leak that came from a player, Polumbus attributes it to the culture from the front office, from where he attributes 70% of the leaks. The players feel no obligation to toe the line since management doesn’t. That’s a stark contrast from a team like New England, where you rarely get leaks of internal squabbling.