Mike Shanahan almost quit as coach of the Washington Redskins after the 2012 season because he was angered by the way he felt owner Daniel Snyder regularly rendered special treatment to star quarterback Robert Griffin III, according to ESPN.
As speculation again mounts about the veteran coach's long-term tenure in Washington, the website reports Shanahan once grew so opposed to the way Snyder was running the organization he cleaned out his office in advance of the team's wild-card playoff game against Seattle and planned to officially tender his resignation whenever the season ended.
A source tells ESPN chief among Shanahan's criticism was the way he felt Snyder empowered Griffin and openly treated him better than all the team's other players. The source added the coach felt Snyder's behavior was a "complete farce" and was not conducive to winning.
According to ESPN, Snyder regularly sent his security team with Griffin whenever he traveled around town and his personal driver was even spotted picking up Griffin's girlfriend, now wife, at road games. By contrast, the website reports once when backup Kirk Cousins relieved an injured Griffin and led Washington to a 38-21 victory over Cleveland, Snyder "didn't acknowledge" Cousins, instead still focussing on RGIII.
ESPN adds Shanahan convinced himself to stay in Washington only after RGIII injured his knee in a playoff loss in 2012 because he did not want to give the general public the impression he was bolting the team because his star player had suffered a significant setback.
The Redskins have struggled to a disappointing 3-9 this year season and have no no first round draft picks in 2014.
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