The rift between Washington head coach Jay Gruden and franchise quarterback Robert Griffin III has been widely reported on. Since Gruden benched Griffin in favor of Colt McCoy, speculation about the former first-round pick’s future has taken him down many paths.
If the choice is left to Gruden, Griffin may very well be on his way out in Washington. Lucky for Griffin, it may not be Gruden’s choice. The leaders in the organization including owner Dan Snyder and general manager Bruce Allen may be leaning to towards siding with Griffin over Gruden, given the choice, writes Jason Reid of the Washington Post.
The leadership group has not given up on their young quarterback, but Gruden seems to be committed to moving on from the embattled 24-year old passer. In Reid’s report, he writes that if Allen and Snyder decide the team will continue with Griffin as the starter, that Gruden could be fired after one year. That would leave the team responsible for the final four years of his five-year guaranteed deal, on top of hiring a new coach and starting over again 2015.
Allen is in a tough position with this decision, as he was the general manager to oversee both the trade to acquire Griffin in 2012. On the other hand, Allen also hired Gruden, and in a way, his legacy with Washington is tied to the success of both. Firing Gruden after one year would reflect poorly on him, but trading Griffin for pennies after giving up so much to move up and take him three years ago would be damning as well. Of course, the best way for Allen to protect his job is if either way, the decision he has to make this offseason lead to a winning season in 2015 and going forward.
Robert has not been the same player since suffering the knee injury, he’s not seeing the field, what he is seeing is the pressure which is a lot of the time his fault for holding the ball too long. If he could get that back he would be fine but until he starts seeing routes developing, seeing the field instead of who is coming at him in the pocket he’s not going to succeed. Its unfortunate because he is a rare talent, athlete, but if he keeps playing scared he’s not going to make it as a quarterback in this leauge. Should the Redskins move on? Thats a tough call given everything that was given up to get him, however that reason alone is no reason to keep him if he’s not going to show drastic improvement. The Redskins have him locked up next season so they should keep him and see if there is a proven, winning veteran to come in and compete. Once the Redskins get the quarterback position squared away they will once again be a force to be reckoned with!