Washington Redskins Players Were Religiously Discriminated Against By Former Head Coach Jim Zorn, Says Clinton Portis

Jim Zorn had a horrible stint as the head coach of the Washington Redskins, and some are now saying that it was because of his deep faith in his religion that led to that downfall.

According to ESPN, Chris Cooley and Clinton Portis revealed that bit of information to the sports world today. The former Washington Redskins teammates co-host a weekly radio show together on ESPN980.

Clinton Portis states that Zorn lost control of the locker room when he started discriminating against Washington Redskins players who did not strongly believe in Christianity as he did. It was hinted that Zorn might have even been more favorable towards players that prayed with him, which means that playing time in Washington might have been affected for things that are not happening on the field.

Still bothered to this day, Clinton Portis also noted that he was a grown man without a police record. Portis did not appreciate Zorn or anyone on the Washington Redskins coaching staff looking down on him for religion.

“I’m grown. I can do what I want to do. I don’t have a police record. If I don’t get in no trouble, don’t assume the way that I live my life, don’t preach to me about what’s right. Because you’re not right, you’re phony, you’re sitting here in my face telling me one thing and then you go behind my back and say something else.”

Chris Cooley, who was the starting tight end for the Washington Redskins at the time, agreed with Portis. However, he did not sound nearly as upset about the situation as his teammate. Cooley said that Jim Zorn did not flat out state that he wanted a team filled with Christians, but he pitched the team in that manner.

The record for the Washington Redskins during those two tumultuous seasons leads many to believe that Jim Zorn definitely did lose the support of players. The Redskins started out the Zorn era by winning six of their first eight games. As his ways started to grind on the players, Washington ended up only winning two games during the final eight games. Zorn had an 8-8 record after such a great start to the Redskins season. The following season, the Redskins won four games and lost 12, which allowed Washington to terminate Zorn.

If Jim Zorn had not lost the support of the players, the Washington Redskins could have produced much better results. They sent four players to the Pro Bowl. Clinton Portis, Chris Cooley, Chris Samuels and Mike Sellers were among the best players in the NFL that year. The offensive scheme concocted by Zorn was a big reason for that.

Since word spreads pretty fast through NFL locker rooms, the belief is that Jim Zorn has cost himself another shot at being a head coach after what happened with the Washington Redskins. After being fired by the Redskins, Zorn immediately went on to become the quarterbacks coach for the Baltimore Ravens. Zorn only lasted a year before joining the Kansas City Chiefs as an assistant coach.

Interestingly enough, both Chris Cooley and Clinton Portis played for a very religious Joe Gibbs, who was the head coach of the Washington Redskins before Jim Zorn was hired as a replacement. Cooley and Portis stated that they had no problems with how Gibbs handled religion. The legendary Redskins head coach only had prayers whenever the situation called for it.

The Washington Post noted that the conversation was started because there was a discussion about the current head coach, Jay Gruden, being in danger of losing his locker room. Apparently, the Washington Redskins players are supportive of Gruden because he benched Robert Griffin III. Redskins management wants Griffin III to be the starting quarterback.

[ Featured Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images ]