The Redskins aren’t being very forthcoming with their staff changes in 2019.
In fact, that might be an understatement.
After the Washington Redskins full-blown collapse over the second half of the 2018 regular season, staff changes were expected. Greg Manusky’s defense regressed tremendously over the final eight weeks, and after going from 6-3 to 7-9, it was known that some coaches would be on the move.
Jay Gruden was reported to be safe earlier this week, but aside from the head coach, the security of every other Washington staff member has been kept from members of the D.C. media. It was recently reported that the Redskins were considering Denver’s defensive coordinator for their defensive backs coach position, despite no report that Torrian Gray had been fired. And then, yesterday, Todd Bowles was reported to have met with Washington to discuss the current state of their relationship, while Greg Manusky had not been officially relieved of his duties.
Then this gem came up today. The Atlanta Falcons announced on their official Twitter page that they had signed Ben Kotwica as their special teams coordinator. The only problem is, Kotwica was Washington’s coordinator. And his release had not been made public.
Redskins ESPN reporter John Keim was observably flustered by the sequence of events, posting this on his Twitter page:
Well... here's one change. https://t.co/QC9fKe7uXa
— John Keim (@john_keim) January 9, 2019
Matthew Paras of the Washington Times later clarified that the Redskins had granted Kotwica permission to speak with the Falcons, even though he wasn’t, strictly speaking, fired. It looks like Kotwica took the opportunity to leave fairly quickly.
One thing is clear in D.C. right now, and that is that absolutely nothing is clear. The Redskins have virtually walled off their operation from reporters. Media members have been able to offer nothing more than guesses pertaining to Washington’s staff situation for days on end now, and the fact that the Falcons inadvertently revealed a Washington staff change, before the Redskins themselves made it public, is a representation of how absurdly and irrationally secretive, reclusive, and surreptitious Bruce Allen is being.
Now we know Kotwica is gone. And there could be more. Some have alluded to a full-blown staff overhaul, aside from Gruden. Stick with us. Things could get very active very quickly.