Washington Redskins 2015 season: Robert Griffin III vs Jay Gruden

By Frank Florio | February 14, 2015

The Washington Redskins head into a 2015 season with quarterback Robert Griffin III whom most fans have given up on, head coach Jay Gruden whom fans haven’t seen anything from, and a roster that’s subpar all around – and that’s before getting to any ongoing external controversy over the team’s name. RG3 was benched for parts of last season due to poor play, and various other QBs were substituted in his place, but the starting job is still nominally his. Is there any reason for Washington fans to be hopeful heading in to the season?

The short answer is maybe. Some expected Jay Gruden to be fired at year’s end for refusing to play RG3, but that didn’t happen. Nor has there been any serious motion toward dumping Griffin. That means the two will get another year to work out their issues. Griffin’s problem has long been that for all his talent, he hasn’t been properly developed in terms of having pocket presence. Gruden was brought in specifically to correct that, and as the two men have a fate that’s intertwined, they may end up getting on the same page so they can move forward.

The catch is that the likes of Kirk Cousins and Colt McCoy are still hanging around on the Washington Redskins roster, giving Jay Gruden an excuse to bench Robert Griffin at will. Perhaps the answer is simply to commit to RG3 for the full season without turning it into a circus. Even if Griffin and Gruden click in 2015, the rest of the roster is troubled enough that there won’t be a playoff run – but there is, at the least, a reason to hope for incremental progress.