Washington executives Scot McCloughan and Bruce Allen aren’t scheduled to speak to the media in formal press conferences this week at the scouting combine in Indianapolis, but head coach Jay Gruden did so today, touching on a handful of topics surrounding the team. Most notably, Gruden expressed confidence that Washington will work something out with quarterback Kirk Cousins, suggesting that the two sides continue to talk in the hopes of hammering out an agreement (Twitter link via Mike Jones of the Washington Post).
Cousins isn’t the only quarterback that Gruden is bullish about bringing back. According to Jones (via Twitter), the head coach also wants to re-sign Colt McCoy. However, it sounds as if linebacker Keenan Robinson will depart via free agency. John Keim of ESPN.com adds that Gruden spoke to defensive lineman Jason Hatcher recently and thinks that Hatcher is leaning toward playing in 2016, rather than retiring.
Here’s more from around the NFC East:
- Cowboys executive VP Stephen Jones spoke about his team’s approach to free agency, suggesting that the Cowboys don’t want to “pay a good player like he’s a great player” if they can avoid it. Todd Archer of ESPNDallas.com has the details and the quotes from Jones.
- Giants head coach Ben McAdoo said today that he “absolutely” expects Victor Cruz to return to the club next season, tweets Ralph Vacchiano of the New York Daily News. Cruz, who has a $9.9MM cap hit, recently estimated that he has an 80% chance of being retained by the Giants.
- Paul Schwartz of the New York Post tweets that McAdoo’s comments today made it sound as if he really wants the Giants to re-sign Jason Pierre-Paul.
- McAdoo also confirmed today that “there was a potential for a second interview” for the Eagles‘ head coaching job before he was promoted by the Giants. As Jeff McLane of the Philadelphia Inquirer tweets, McAdoo said he wasn’t formally offered the Eagles’ job.