Pro Football Hall of Famer John Riggins is returning to the broadcast booth.
The Washington Commanders made the announcement Saturday. Riggins has been a commentator in the Washington, D.C., area media for years after his 15-year playing career ended. Riggins, an icon of the former Washington Redskins in the 1970s and 80s, will also have his No. 44 jersey officially retired by the team.
“John will be doing all the color for all our preseason games, he‘ll be doing our podcast, and he’ll be back with the Commander family,” Commanders team president Mark Clouse said during the Commanders’ “Back Together Saturday” event at training camp this weekend, via the team’s official website.
He also announced that Riggins’s former teammate, fellow Hall of Famer and Redskins legend Darrell Green, would also be returning to work with the team.
Riggins said he was excited to join the broadcast crew: play-by-play announcer Dan Hellie, color commentator Brian Mitchell, and sideline reporter Bryan Colbert.
“We’ve got, what, three games to do here coming up,” he told Colbert, Mitchell, and former Redskins wide receiver Santana Moss on the Commanders’ “Command Center” livestream Saturday. “Brian’s going to have to do the whole [thing]. I’m going to chip in with a little psychology every once in a while, but I haven’t been paying real close attention to the game that much, but I do know … it’s changed since you [Mitchell] were in it. Very much so. So, I’ve got a little homework to do [to] catch up, and we’ve got a game probably, what, about two weeks from today or yesterday? Something like that. So, yeah, I’m looking forward to this. It’s going to be fun.”
After starting his career with the New York Jets, Riggins played 10 seasons with the then-Redskins. He won NFL Comeback Player of the Year in 1978, was a First-Team All-Pro in 1983, and led the league in rushing touchdowns in both 1983 and 1984. In 1982, he helped lead the Redskins to an appearance in Super Bowl XVII, where he won Super Bowl MVP for his performance. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1992.
More than a decade after his playing career, Riggins took up the microphone. Just like during his playing days, he started on radio in New York, co-hosting “Riggins and Russo,” a radio show focusing on the Giants and Jets. In 2006, he served as color commentator for the Westwood One radio broadcast of Sunday Night Football. He hosted his own show the same year. He co-hosted “Sirius Blitz” with Adam Schein in 2008 and worked as an analyst for Redskins Report. He joined ESPN 980 as a commentator and has co-hosted the Washington Redskins Radio Network pre-game show with Kevin Sheehan.
Riggins will also have his jersey retired during the Commanders’ Week 9 matchup against the Los Angeles Rams.
He recounted a story to the livestream Saturday from his time with the Jets in 1972. The team held a banquet at the Waldorf Astoria in New York City, which he took a cab to attend. As he got out of the cab, a man stepped out of the cab in front of him; that man was none other than New York Yankees legend Mickey Mantle. Riggins grew up idolizing Mantle, and called it one of the greatest moments of his life.
“Here’s what’s hard for me to fathom, to be honest with you, is that, in some ways I’ve become Mickey Mantle in this town,” Riggins said. “And it’s hard for me, really; it is hard for me to grasp. I mean there’s moments where it hits you, and it’s very gratifying, and there’s other moments you’re going, ‘why me?’ So that’s where I’m still working on it. By November 8th, I‘ll have it down cold. I’ll be walking around with my chest puffed out.”
