Reports: Jay Gruden will return as Redskins coach for 2018

There were little doubts after the past couple of weeks that Jay Gruden would return as the Washington Redskins head coach. According to sources, that appears to be true.

After the loss to the Dallas Cowboys in late November that essentially knocked the Redskins out of the playoffs, Jay Gruden was officially on the hot seat. The team came out an put on the worst effort of their season, playing uninspired and getting crushed by a final score of 38-14. It was a wildly disappointing performance, and it appeared to be a function of Gruden’s lack of motivational skills.

However, over the course of the past two weeks, Gruden has done a lot to demonstrate that he should keep his job. The team was able to knock off the Cardinals in Week 15 and then dominated the Broncos in Week 16 to improve to 7-8. A better record isn’t everything in the NFL, but in this case, it certainly helped to justify the decision to keep Gruden.

And it appears that will be the choice moving forward. NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport confirmed on Twitter that Gruden is likely to return in 2018. Here’s the full statement from Rapoport.

One coach to take off the hot seat, if he was ever on it: #Redskins coach Jay Gruden. There is a deep understanding of the injuries they battled and how he and his staff kept it together. Heading into Week 17, no plans for major changes in Washington, sources say.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) December 29, 2017

This will frustrate some fans and comfort others. There are some who believe that Gruden is a great coach and some who believe he is an average playcaller who lacks motivational skills. But one thing is certain. Pinning the results of the entire season on him would be entirely unfair.

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This year, the Redskins have had to put a ridiculous 20 players on Injured Reserve. They have lost three starting offensive linemen, five running backs, and countless players at the linebacker positions. Furthermore, players on the active roster like Zach Brown and Matt Ioannidis have each missed games throughout the course of the season. There was simply no recovering from that loss of talent.

Gruden and his staff did a great job to find quality players and at least attempt to win games. Sure, the losses to New Orleans and Dallas were both very bad and the players put forth zero effort late in the game. But at the same time, the Redskins defense looked strong early in the season and late in the year with mostly backups playing, they were able to win a couple of games. That’s enough to let Gruden stay on for another year.

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However, it’s worth noting that a poor performance next year with a more healthy roster could put Gruden on the hot seat again. Gruden needs to make sure that he’s ready to get his men to play hard in 2018. That should be doable, but consider next year to be critical to the future of Gruden as the Redskins head coach.

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