Redskins: Could Head Coach Jay Gruden Be Fired?

Sep 20, 2015; Landover, MD, USA; Washington Redskins head coach Jay Gruden looks on from the sidelines against the St. Louis Rams at FedEx Field. Mandatory Credit: Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports

Redskins: Could Jay Gruden be fired?

Jay Gruden has only won 6 of his 22 games as head coach of the Washington Redskins. If he doesn’t win his seventh when the Redskins host the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday, will he still be the coach of the Washington Redskins? Or will General Manager Scot McCloughan feel the bye week is a good time to move on from Gruden?

Most rookie head coaches will get time to learn on the job and prove themselves for at least two to three years. McCloughan may feel that should be the case with Gruden. The Redskins have looked better on the field than they did in 2014 and even 2013.

McCloughan may look at the improvement and give Gruden time to get results with more wins. He may also not see a future for Gruden in Washington and feel that the bye week is the best time to move on and see what the Redskins can accomplish without Gruden. What are McCloughan’s choices if he wants to make a move?

Offensive line coach Bill Callahan has been a head coach previously in the NFL with the Oakland Raiders and took them to the Super Bowl in 2003 but lost to Tampa Bay, 48-21. He would be the leading choice to take over as interim coach if Gruden was fired. Other possibilities could be defensive coordinator Joe Barry and defensive backs coach Perry Fewell.

Reasons to make a change at the bye week could be that McCloughan sees an opportunity to win a weak NFC East but that Gruden has held the team back. A hole in that theory is that if the Redskins lose to the Buccaneers, they will be 2-5 and have to play the Super Bowl champion New England Patriots after the bye week. If they lose that game also and be 2-6, the Redskins would have to go on a miracle run to win the division.

Another reason is that McCloughan could be unhappy with Gruden’s handling of the quarterback situation with the Redskins. Gruden installed Kirk Cousins as the starter to begin the season and he has played well below average, throwing multiple interceptions in all four of the Redskins losses.

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McCloughan could feel the bye week is a good time to make a change at quarterback and choose to do it without Gruden. Robert Griffin III was signed to a fifth year option of over $16 million in the off-season and McCloughan may choose to get a close up look of Griffin as the starter before deciding if he should cut him after the season to avoid paying the option. If injured in 2015 however, Griffin may be guaranteed the contract if unable to play in 2016.

McCloughan may also look at the Redskins failure to make second half adjustments in most of their games and feel that removing Gruden could improve their ability to counter what teams are doing to the Redskins in the second halves of games. Gruden has gotten away from the run game since week three and McCloughan has made that an emphasis for his image of the Redskins. Differing philosophies could spur McCloughan to pull the plug on Gruden early.

Removing Gruden in mid-season could give the Redskins a head start on looking for new coaching candidates for 2016. Most coaches however are still under contract and the Redskins would be precluded from talking to them until after the season. College coaches would be available to speak with the Redskins if they are interested.

The obstacle for McCloughan if he chooses to fire Gruden is Gruden’s guaranteed contract. Gruden signed a five year deal with $20 million guaranteed. He will still be due $12 million of that amount after the 2015 season.

Gruden has called the game versus Tampa Bay on Sunday a “code red” situation. This is true for him and Cousins and others on the team. The coaching staff was over-hauled during the off-season and most of them will have no desire to move on and uproot their families so soon.

With so much on the line for the Redskins, I expect them to come out and play a good game and beat the Buccaneers on Sunday. Cousins will probably play much better than he has over the past two weeks and keep his job for most of the season. If he doesn’t, Colt McCoy could be the next option for Gruden as he seems to not want to turn to Griffin.

McCloughan will also probably hold any decisions until after the season. He has a lot of work to do in rebuilding the Redskins and he may not want to make drastic changes during the season. Gruden will most likely need to win 4 or 5 of the remaining 10 games to return in 2016 though.

Next: Redskins: Keys to beating the Buccaneers

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