Let’s Fantasize About the Redskins Coaching Staff
January 8, 2019
by Steve Thomas
We now know that Redskins head coach Jay Gruden is staying on for at least one more season, and at this point it seems apparent that team president Bruce Allen is staying as well, #FireBruceAllen hashtag notwithstanding. No amount of fan begging will apparently change those two facts, at least not at this moment, so I thought it would be worthwhile to take a quick look at the Redskins coaching staff and see who is a positive contribution to the team and where possible areas of improvement can be found.
Offense
Here’s the 2018 offensive staff:
Assistant Head Coach / Offensive Line: Bill Callahan
Offensive Coordinator: Matt Cavanaugh
Passing Game Coordinator: Kevin O’Connell
Wide Receivers Coach: Ike Hilliard
Running Backs Coach: Randy Jordan
Tight Ends: Wes Phillips
Assistant Offensive Line: Phil Rauscher
The big name here is obviously Bill Callahan, who’s been in Washington since the 2015 season and is widely regarded as one of the top offensive line coaches in the league. He’s developed Morgan Moses and Chase Roullier into quality starters and has managed an unbelievable number of injuries to his unit over the last two years. To a man, every lineman we’ve had on our show has sung his praises. But have his practice habits been in some way responsible for the injuries?
Matt Cavanaugh has been with the team since 2015, first as the quarterbacks coach before getting promoted to offensive coordinator in 2017 following the departure of boy wunderkind Sean McVay. The offense has not thrived under his leadership, but he’s also been burdened with all sorts of roster holes, injuries, and drama. Kirk Cousins put up massive numbers under his tutelage, but the offense never really became a dominate, winning force. This year, of course, was horrid and anemic, but was it his fault? Would the offense be better served with a fresh start?
Kevin O’Connell’s title is “Passing Game Coordinator”, but that’s a fancy way of saying that he’s the quarterbacks coach. You don’t need me to discuss the trials and tribulations of his group – from Cousins to Smith, McCoy, Sanchez, and Johnson, O’Connell has probably made the best of a tough situation that isn’t his fault.
Ike Hilliard has been on his second stint with the team since 2014. He currently has his hands full with a host of very young receivers. His major knock is that first round draft pick Josh Doctson has not developed as the team hoped. Is that Hilliard’s fault or is Doctson just a bust?
Randy Jordan has been the running backs coach since 2014, and has had a measure of success with undrafted free agent Rob Kelley and worked to get the most out of future hall of famer Adrian Peterson this season despite every opposing defense key on Peterson every week as the only real offensive threat.
Wes Phillips, who is the son of defensive guru Wade Phillips and the grandson of the legendary Houston Oilers head coach Bum Phillips, has been with the Redskins since 2014. He’s presided over the development of Mr. Injury, Jordan Reed, as well as the career resurgence of Vernon Davis.
Defense
Defensive Coordinator: Greg Manusky
Defensive Line Coach: Jim Tomsula
Inside Linebackers Coach: Kirk Olivadotti
Outside Linebackers Coach: Chad Grimm
Defensive Backs Coach: Torrian Gray
Assistant Defensive Backs Coach: James Rowe
Greg Manusky has been the defensive coordinator since the 2017 season. The 2017 defense was terrible by basically every measure. The 2018 team improved statistically across the board, although it is still not up to the level of a good, or even top 16 defense. He’s been burdened by players who lack talent and speed, and has had to deal with players such as D.J. Swearinger, Zach Brown, and others, who have a ton of attitude and negative energy. At the same time, though, this defense is not up to par and it is not clear that he’s adapted the scheme to get the most out of the players, in particular the linebacker group. Would the defense benefit by the team going a different direction?
Jim Tomsula has been with the Redskins since 2017. He’s presided over the development of budding star Jonathan Allen and 2018 rookie Daron Payne. His most impressive accomplishment, though, is his development of Matt Ioannidis, who has gone from lightly regarded practice squad player to solid and improving starter.
Kirk Olivadotti’s inside linebacker group has for the most part underperformed, particularly this year, and he stubbornly stuck with Mason Foster and Zach Brown as his starters for most of the 2018 season in the face of underwhelming and sometimes poor performance. The fact that the front office didn’t provide him with better starting talent isn’t his fault, but not playing Shaun Dion-Hamilton is.
Chad Grimm, the son of Hall of Famer Russ Grimm, joined the team in 2015 as a defensive quality control assistant and became the outside linebackers coach in 2018. He’s had the career of Ryan Kerrigan, who is on the verge of becoming the most distinguished pass rusher in team history, on his hands. The team has otherwise done a poor job of providing him with talent to work with outside of Kerrigan.
Torrian Gray came to the Redskins from Virginia Tech in 2017 and has had his hands full since day one with a combination of many young players and head strong vets with attitude. Not every player has developed, but that’s to be expected. He seems to be a positive influence on his position group.
Special Teams
Special Teams Coordinator: Ben Kotwica
Assistant Special Teams: Bret Munsey
Kotwica’s Special Forces have been about as far from special as possible during his 5 year tenure with the Redskins, having mostly resided at the bottom of the rankings in punt and kick returns and return defense. He has, however, presided over the careers of Dustin Hopkins, who is becoming one of the franchise’s most accomplished kickers, and Tress Way, who was screwed out of an All-Pro selection this year by idiot Associated Press voters.
Strength and Conditioning
Head Strength and Conditioning: Chad Englehart
Assistant Strength and Conditioning: Kavan Latham
It’s tough to know how successful, or unsuccessful, the training staff has been without being in the building with them on a day-to-day basis. The team has suffered a ton of injuries, but many of them, such as Alex Smith’s devastating broken leg and Derrius Guice’s torn ACL, were nothing that could be prevented by any training staff.
Certainly, the obvious candidates for replacement of this group would be Matt Cavanaugh, whose offense was horrid this year, and the inside linebackers coach, Kirk Olivadotti. It’s possible that the team decides to move on from Greg Manusky, because while improvements have been made, the defense has on the whole underwhelmed. On the other hand, unless the organization decides to change the scheme back to a 4 – 3 and/or acquire some athletic and speedy talent, bringing in a new defensive coordinator might be just rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.
What do you think? Let me know in the comment section below.