Ugly accusations are piling up...

Are we certain that Dan Snyder, owner of the Washington Commanders, is the worst current NFL club owner?

Because, based on recent news, the Arizona Cardinals' Michael Bidwill appears to warrant consideration, and more recent charges are of the sort that, if true, are on par with Snyder's numerous transgressions.

Terry McDonough, a former Cardinals front-office executive, filed an arbitration claim with the NFL last week, alleging that Bidwill orchestrated and demanded the use of burner phones to communicate with then-general manager Steve Keim while Keim was serving a league-imposed suspension for extreme DUI in 2018. McDonough also accused Bidwill of mistreating pregnant and African-American workers.

If confirmed, that should be enough for commissioner Roger Goodell to approve Bidwill. In a long response, the Cardinals and Bidwill disputed the charges.

However, cheating isn't the only claim McDonough made, and Pro Football Talk obtained an email from a second former Cardinals executive on Monday that backed up several of his claims, including Bidwill's behavior toward team office staffers and a claim that Bidwill shut down an employee survey when the early results were unfavorable to him.

These developments come only weeks after the inaugural NFL Players Association poll indicated that Arizona players gave the club a F or F-minus in five of eight areas, including family care, food service and nutrition, weight room, training room, and locker room.

There's also the Cardinals' more direct inclusion in Brian Flores' class-action lawsuit against the NFL alleging racial discrimination in hiring practices, with former Cardinals head coach Steve Wilks joining the lawsuit and alleging that Arizona hired him as "bridge coach" in 2018 — basically, intending to fire him — and dealt him a difficult hand in his one 3-13 season with the team.

McDonough's assertion is likely to bolster Wilks' claims. McDonough claims that when urged to breach the rules by using a burner phone to contact with Keim while he was suspended, he and Wilks both refused, just as Flores claims he refused to cave to requests from Dolphins owner Stephen Ross during the 2019 season when Flores was Miami's head coach. The NFL eventually decided that there was no proof of deliberate tanking.

"Unfortunately, we discovered that the majority of our employees are working in fear," Minegar stated. "There are several factors, but much of this was directed at you as a result of their poor interaction with you...." How did you feel when you saw the preliminary responses? Instead of pushing in and striving to improve things, you shut off the study."

To rebut McDonough's assertions, the Cardinals hired an outside public relations consultant. Minegar claims the crew selected messages he made to Bidwill at random. That sounds a lot like Snyder's public relations team: attack and deflect, attack and deflect. And never, ever accept responsibility for your actions. It's the way the NFL does things.

In the Cardinals' home market of Phoenix, an ESPN article of then-Suns and Mercury owner Robert Sarver's bad behavior was publicly confirmed by an NBA inquiry, forcing Sarver to sell both teams shortly. Meanwhile, the NFL provided a sparse description of its findings in its first inquiry against Snyder, and it appears to be dragging its feet on the second. Despite their disagreements, the owner class appears to be defending Snyder, and his huge stadium is shamefully empty on game days.

Will the NFL even take steps to safeguard employees in teams and league offices from the league's owners and senior executives' disgusting "leadership"? It's not enough that many of them are bad community members, swindling taxpayers for new stadium funds while pocketing the profits; there's proof that some of them don't even treat people who make those teams go with civility.

Snyder may be the worst owner in the NFL, but it looks he is being challenged.