NFL free agent gets call from Commanders’ legal team for sharing this video on social media

It seems that the Washington Commanders aren’t very happy with a video recently shared on social media by free agent punter Drue Chrisman. 

The 27-year-old has been looking for an NFL job since August 2023 when he was cut by the Bengals. Over the past 12 months, Chrisman has worked out for multiple NFL teams, but he has yet to sign a contract with anyone. The interesting thing about Chrisman is that he documents each of his tryouts so that his followers on social media can get a taste of what it’s like to be a fringe player in the NFL. 

Chrisman’s most recent video gave his followers a behind-the-scenes look at what it’s like to try out for an NFL team. The Commanders invited Chrisman in for a tryout on Aug. 13, and five days later he released a video showcasing everything that happened on the day of his tryout. 

It’s actually a pretty interesting video. Chrisman shows what a punter goes through during a tryout. Unfortunately for Chrisman, though, it appears that Washington was not a fan of his work. 

After he shared the video on social media, the Commanders legal team apparently called up Chrisman and asked him to delete it. 

It’s not clear what the Commanders were upset about as Chrisman’s video is basically like a 90-second version of “Hard Knocks.” At one point you even see him talk to a Commanders assistant coach, who lets Chrisman know that the team doesn’t plan to sign him. 

Chrisman did prominently feature two business cards in his video (for Pink Zebra moving) and it’s possible the team didn’t want anyone to think the Commanders are endorsing that product. It’s also possible the team just doesn’t want a behind-the-scenes video out there that wasn’t produced by someone inside the organization. 

The punter clearly doesn’t seem to care about the demand from the team, because two days after being threatened by the Commanders legal department, the video is still up. 

The former Bengals punter made a similar video earlier this month that featured him going on a tryout in San Francisco, and the 49ers didn’t seem to have any issue with anything he shared. 

Chrisman spent seven games as the Bengals punter in 2022, but was cut in August 2023. Back in April, he signed with the UFL’s Birmingham Stallions and he spent roughly a month with the team before being released in May (Chrisman was filling in for injured punter Colby Wadman at the time and the Stallions let Chrisman go after Wadman was healthy enough to return). 

The former Ohio State punter has had multiple NFL tryouts since then, but he still hasn’t been able to latch on with anyone. During his lone season on the field in 2022, Chrisman averaged 42.6 net yards per punt, which ranked 10th overall in the NFL that year.