Washington Redskins: Why Jay Gruden deserves more respect
By Ian Cummings
Inherited Chaos
It’s hard to fully grasp the unfettered destruction that Jay Gruden took into his own hands when he accepted the Washington Redskins’ head coaching job in 2014. After a brief glimpse of hope, the Washington Redskins were back to the quarterback carousel. Their roster was almost completely devoid of talent, and the cost to get Robert Griffin III still bore heavy weight on the team.
The utter chaos that Jay Gruden dealt with in 2014 is something that takes more than one year to recover from. In fact, it’s safe to say that the Washington Redskins didn’t recover from those dark days until this offseason, when they finally put together what should be both a solid free agent class and solid draft class, on paper.
To associate the Washington Redskins dysfunction in 2014 with that year alone is incorrect. Through 2015, 2016, and even 2017, the Washington Redskins were still recovering from a brief, yet destructive era that set the franchise back. They didn’t have a competent defense until 2017, and even then, it wasn’t deep enough to fend off injury.
Each year since Gruden’s arrival, the roster has slowly gained strength. The Washington Redskins finally have a deep defensive line, for the first time in Gruden’s tenure. For the first time in Gruden’s tenure, the Washington Redskins have assured stability and reliability at the quarterback position. But Gruden has never had close to a complete cast consistently at his disposal.
Only now, in 2018, do the Washington Redskins seem to be turning a new leaf. Bruce Allen’s role in the front office is diminishing, and Dan Snyder seems to be taking a step back, and letting the football people do their jobs. The roster is as strong as it’s ever been, and from a coaching perspective, Gruden has a very strong supporting cast, with coaches such as Bill Callahan, Jim Tomsula, Torrian Gray, Randy Jordan, and Kevin O’Connell all bolstering the ranks.
As we appreciate what we now have, however, let’s not forget that Gruden is one of the few who endured the transition from a darker time. From 2000 to 2013, the Washington Redskins had six coaches. There’s a reason Jay Gruden has remained, and ended the streak, while the others failed to do so.