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The Washington Commanders announced Friday that they fined defensive coordinator Jack Del Rio $100,000 for comments he made this week about the breach of the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 6, 2021.
Commanders head coach Ron Rivera released the following statement:
Rivera called Del Rio’s comments “extremely hurtful” and noted that the $100,000 will be donated to the United States Capitol Police Memorial Fund.
Per ESPN’s John Keim, Del Rio tweeted the following Monday in response to a tweet about the Jan. 6 hearings: “Would love to understand ‘the whole story’ about why the summer of riots, looting, burning and the destruction of personal property is never discussed but this is??? #CommonSense.”
When asked to explain his comments Wednesday, Del Rio told reporters:
“Why are we not looking into those things—if we’re going to talk about it—why are we not looking into those things? I can look at images on the TV, people’s livelihoods are being destroyed, businesses are being burned down, no problem. And then we have a dustup at the Capitol, nothing burned down, and we’re going to make that a major deal. I just think it’s kind of two standards, and if we apply the same standard and we’re going to be reasonable with each other, let’s have a discussion. That’s all it was. Let’s have a discussion.”
After facing backlash, Del Rio apologized:
Five people, including a Capitol police officer, died during and in the aftermath of the insurrection.
The House select committee is investigating the breach and the circumstances that led up to the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection, including the possibility former president Donald Trump had some responsibility for inciting the riot after repeatedly claiming that the 2020 presidential election was rigged in favor of winning candidate Joe Biden.
Del Rio, 59, has been the Commanders’ defensive coordinator under Rivera since 2020 after previously holding multiple DC and head coaching jobs in the NFL.
After spending 11 seasons as a linebacker with the New Orleans Saints, Kansas City Chiefs, Dallas Cowboys and Minnesota Vikings, Del Rio transitioned to coaching in 1997.
Most notably Del Rio was head coach of the Jacksonville Jaguars from 2003 to 2011 and the then-Oakland Raiders from 2015 to 2017.
Del Rio is 93-94 as a head coach with three playoff appearances. He also won a Super Bowl as the Baltimore Ravens linebackers coach in 2000.
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