Clinton Portis did NOT have good things to say about the Jim Zorn era in DC…allegedly

Safe to say Clinton Portis was NOT a fan of Jim Zorn?

The legendary ex-Redskins running back was in studio with Grant & Danny on Thursday, and after discussing the impact Portis had early in his career in Denver before coming to DC, Portis had a very different taste of what happened in Washington.

“I think the responsibility was totally different here; I had just left Denver and I was having this conversation with some of the writers that covered me about the responsibility that I had in Denver – I was like fourth or fifth deep on the totem pole of options,” Portis said. “For me, the way the system was set up, if you hit it and you’re out of there, you’re off to the races. Once I got here, I don't think people really look at the situations – in seven years, I think I had five coordinators who all wanted to do something different, and I had nine or 10 quarterbacks. I left the DMV so upset, because I felt like for years, I was the savior, and I turned into the problem, and that left a bitter taste in my mouth.”

His first four years here, 2004-07, were the second Joe Gibbs era, where the ‘Skins had two winning seasons and made the playoffs both times – but the next two were the Zorn era, an 8-8 and a 4-12 that was just chaos.

“It’s one of those things, man, where you're doing everything you're asked, and it was like, ‘oh, no, I wanna do it this way’ or ‘this is how it should be done,’” he said. “Okay, this is what you want me to do> Let's do it.”

Of that group of QBs he had in front of him, playing with Todd Collins was probably Portis’ favorite for several reasons – but to him, it could’ve been the one he had during the Zorn era, Jason Campbell, if not for some interference.

“Jason would have been much better if the truth ever would have came out about it – he’s not one of those people that will say it, but they were telling him where to go with the ball,” Portis said. “Before the plays, the staff would say, ‘we want you to go to this guy,’ and then, when he made a mistake, like ‘throw this ball, it's gonna come open,’ he’d throw it and it's a pick six back the other way, Jason won’t come out and say the coach said throw it here.”

And so, yeah, Portis wouldn’t say Zorn’s name when Grant was leading the witness, but it’s pretty apparent who he was talking about.

“I’m not a huge fan of that era; some of the coaching in it was bad for a lot of people, and of course I’m not talking about Gibbs. I love coach Gibbs, and I love coach Shanahan,” Portis said. “It was bad for a lot of people. If you look at the situation, I think for Jason, he just didn't have that fair chance to go out and be a ball player, because it was like, this man is the one who's supposed to fix you, and he's really the one who hurt you.
That type  of situation.”

Cato June, who played in the NFL and was in studio with Portis, only laughed when GP asked him about Zorn, and listened as Grant mentioned how Zorn would tell some ‘of the funniest weird stories.’

“He used to tell the funniest stories about like just weird stories,” GP said. “He’s like talking about just going on a long bike ride and finding an animal, and then sitting down, and you're like, what is this you're talking about? And apparently he did the same thing to you with you guys?”

“Why would you all even buy into those stories? Why would you even sit and listen? Nobody wants to hear about no damn bike rise, like, what’s going on with the team?” Portis said. “You should’ve put him on a show, if he’s there to entertain.”

Portis also talked about why he used to dress wildly in his press conference and a lot more on his time in DC – listen to it all in the clips above!