5 Reasons Why The Redskins Should Extend Jay Gruden’s Contract

May 30, 2019

by Eric Hill

A few weeks ago, I wrote about why Jay Gruden’s time in DC could be coming to an end (click here to read). Well, if you’ve been reading my stuff long enough, you’ll realize that I have no real convictions or principals, so here are five reasons why the Redskins should offer Jay Gruden a contract extension.

New Quarterback

The Redskins used their first round pick this year to select quarterback Dwayne Haskins, tying their foreseeable future to his success or failure and they should do everything in their power to put him in a position to succeed.

First and foremost, the team should be creating an environment of stability.  Haskins only started one season in college and his foundation as a passer is still in the process of being laid. Why create cracks in that foundation by giving Haskins a season with Gruden only to start over in 2020?  Gruden’s security is tied to Haskins’ stability.

Injuries

The injury bug has been more like has been like an army of fire ants for the Redskins over the past two seasons.  The team finished the season with 20+ players on injured reserve in both 2017 and 2018. That can’t happen three years in a row, can it?

Rueben Foster says ‘Hi,’ but let’s not dwell on that.  Click here to read my thoughts on Reuben’s injury.

There is no question that the Redskins have been a completely different team when they have had all their pieces on the field. If they regress back to the mean and even have an average year of injuries, Gruden could prove to be more than capable of getting the job done with all his weapons at his disposal.

Adaptability

Gruden is a former quarterback with a knack for drawing up beautifully designed pass plays. He likes to sling it and usually has guys running wide open.  In prior years with Kirk Cousins under center and talented receivers like DeSean Jackson and Pierre Garcon on the edges, Gruden did just that. Cousins posted back to back 4,000+ yard seasons and the Redskins had a top tier offense, yardage wise.

Last season it quickly became evident that Cousins’ replacement, Alex Smith, was allergic to the forward pass, instead preferring to throw check downs to running backs and the occasional wide receiver slant. The wide receiver core didn’t provide much help courtesy of Josh Doctson’s inability to separate, the regression of slot man Jamison Crowder and speedster Paul Richardson’s injury problems. The passing game in 2018 was going nowhere fast.

Instead of forcing the issue, Gruden figured out that the team’s best chance to win was to play the ball control and field position game with running back Adrian Peterson and punter Tress Way. Gruden’s strategy essentially became this: get the ball first, run a few plays, then pin the opposing offense deep with a solid punt, play good defense, and get the ball back in decent field position, rinse, repeat. It worked wonderfully in the early going of 2018.  The obvious flaw in that plan came against explosive offenses like New Orleans and Atlanta but for the most part, the strategy worked well, as the Redskins were 7-1 in games in which they scored first.

Unfortunately, Smith’s broken leg along with Colt McCoy’s injury two weeks later all but eliminated the threat of the pass and the Redskins offense became too one dimensional to keep things afloat.

Still, Gruden has shown the ability to do what is needed to win a game even if it goes against his tendencies.

No Better Alternative

If the team decides to move on from Gruden, the main question becomes “Who are they going to get?”

The Redskins have had a solid offseason and they have a nice young core to build around (my colleague Jay Evans wrote about this recently; click here to read) but, fair or not, there is still an aura of dysfunction that surrounds the team. Are they really going to attract someone better?

Along with the usual suspects of Jacksonville and Buffalo, there could be some bigtime job openings after 2019. Dan Quinn could be a short timer in Atlanta if he can’t figure out a way to win with all those weapons. The same goes for Bill O’Brien in Houston.  That team has too much talent to get bounced in the first round every season and the window on that defense might be closing soon. Pittsburgh would be at the top of any coaching candidate’s wish list if the Rooney family’s seemingly infinite patience finally runs out with the clown show Mike Tomlin is presiding over. Not to mention Dallas, who, despite being as average and dysfunctional as Washington, has the adoration of legions of blue star worshiping window lickers who couldn’t point to Dallas on a map of Dallas. Like it or not, coaches want to coach in big D.

The Redskins would certainly fill the position. There are only 32 NFL head coaching jobs and somebody will take it, but that doesn’t mean they will be better than what we already have. Is a candidate who has options really going to pick DC?

Kevin O’Connell has been rising through the ranks of Redskins coaches, but is he the answer?  The team recently tweeted out a video of him working his coaching magic that consisted of three minutes of him saying “That’s a good ball.”  I guess maybe that makes him next Sean McVay, but who knows? What does he bring to the table that Gruden doesn’t?

Jay Gruden is a competent, if uninspiring head coach. Despite all the injuries and turmoil in his tenure here, he has never once lost the locker room.  Players come out every week and play hard for him. His time in DC has coincided with the most stable era the franchise has had under owner Dan Snyder.  Perhaps it’s time to reward him with two more years or so and maybe things will break right for once.

Maybe.