Besides playing a round of golf and participating in poker tournaments, Jay Gruden has been on a media tour following since he was fired by the Redskins. The former head coach appeared on 106.7 the Fan’s Grant and Danny.
During his interview, he addressed several questions about his handling of rookie quarterback Dwayne Haskins before his firing.
On Dwayne Haskins’ Development
“Dwayne’s a great developmental prospect, he’s got a great skillset; he’s big, strong, but it does take a while to learn the nuances of pro football from calling a play to the huddle, to getting your protection right, to get the run game checks to go through your progressions, to audible to max protection when you have to, to change your protections,” Gruden said in the interview. “It takes some time. But Dwayne’s on course to learn it and I think he’ll be a force in pro football in due time.”
Playing Haskins in Week 4 against the New York Giants
Gruden admitted the plan was for Case Keenum to take the starting quarterback position, while they redshirt Haskins. However, Keenum got injured and Haskins, who was not quite ready, had to relieve him.
Haskins threw three interceptions, including a pick-six. Critics swarmed on Gruden’s decision to play the rookie. ESPN’s Louis Riddick said Gruden was setting Haskins up to fail.
“Well, that’s idiotic because he was our backup quarterback,” Gruden responded. “And Colt McCoy was not ready to play, he was not ready to be the backup quarterback. And Case Keenum had a bad foot and couldn’t come back in the game. So our backup quarterback had to play. That’s the way it is.
“Your responsibility as a backup quarterback is to get ready and put a package of plays together for him that he feels comfortable with and if you have to play, you gotta be ready to play,” Gruden continued. “And unfortunately he had to play in that game and he didn’t perform up to his standards, probably, or anybody’s standards. Struggles are gonna happen in your first game as a pro player on the road against the Giants, so that’s what happened. He had to get ready to play he’s the only guy we had.”
Wanting to Redshirt Haskins
“I think when you’re coaching quarterbacks you have to get a starter ready and that starter has to get the reps in practice,” Gruden told Grant & Danny. “Practices are only so long and the plan would be to redshirt him this year unless there was a situation where he had to play like against the Giants.”
“But you would love for him to be able to sit behind Case or Colt, for that matter, learn for a year and then take off running. And that would be the plan,” Gruden added.
The Redskins replaced Jay Gruden with interim head coach Bill Callahan. Haskins has been named the primary backup to Keenum. However, Callahan has stressed Haskins’ development is a top priority.
Wednesday, the former Ohio State quarterback took first team reps while Keenum got a veteran’s day off.
Following Friday’s practice, Haskins shot back at reports and suggestions that he is not ready to be the starting quarterback and his inability to read defenses, saying “That’s really a joke. I pride myself on reading defense.”
