Jaguars will interview former Redskins coach Jay Gruden for OC role
Former Redskins coach Jay Gruden is receiving interest for a potential coordinator job with the Jacksonville Jaguars.
The Washington Redskins parted ways with head coach Jay Gruden five games into the 2019 season in what was unequivocally the right move. The Redskins really should’ve parted with Gruden ahead of his sixth season with the squad but instead, he entered the year as a lame duck.
The Redskins staff is now set under Ron Rivera, who is fresh off of nine seasons coaching the Carolina Panthers. And now, it seems that Jay Gruden is getting some interest for job openings as well.
According to NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo, Gruden is going to interview for the Jacksonville Jaguars’ open coordinator spot.
#Jaguars will interview Jay Gruden for their vacant offensive coordinator job, sources says. Gruden recently told @RapSheet he’s “itching to do something” and would “like to have an office to go to.” Perhaps it’ll be in Jacksonville.
— Mike Garafolo (@MikeGarafolo) January 19, 2020
The Jaguars position is open after they parted ways with John DeFilippo, who had served as the team’s offensive coordinator for just one year and got solid results out of Gardner Minshew. But it seems that the Jaguars are looking at all available options to replace him.
The Jags made the controversial decision to keep Doug Marrone after another poor season for the club. And now, it looks like the team is trying to land a coordinator with some head coaching experience and play-calling experience to join the squad. Perhaps that would take some pressure off Marrone and make it easier for him to manage the team.
Or it could be to ensure that the team has an interim coaching option with experience should the team start poorly in 2020 and the Jaguars want to dump Marrone.
Gruden proved to be a poor head coach at the end of his tenure in Washington, but as a coordinator, he did help lead the Cincinnati Bengals to a top-10 offense in his final season with the team. Perhaps Gruden could rekindle some of his magic in a similar role.
Of course, a case could be made that he shouldn’t be a coordinator right now after he struggled to call an effective offense without Sean McVay in Washington. It really depends on who you ask.
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Gruden will likely land a role somewhere in the NFL. It’s just a matter of what he’ll do or if he’ll need to take a year off before rebuilding his value as a potential coordinator candidate. We’ll see what happens moving forward, but Gruden being a candidate is at least something to know.