We Still Don't Know Who the Redskins QB is, Just That Jay Gruden Never Wanted Dwayne Haskins

Source – Washington Redskins coach Jay Gruden still is not ready to say who will start at quarterback against the New England Patriots.

Gruden said after practice Thursday he is “getting closer” to deciding on a QB from among Colt McCoy, Case Keenum and first-round draft pick Dwayne Haskins but wants to wait at least another day.

And – The one constant with the Washington Redskins the past few years: Quarterback uncertainty. …

Part of that uncertainty has come in the form of multiple reports indicating a rift, starting before the draft, in thinking between head coach Jay Gruden and team president Bruce Allen and owner Daniel Snyder.

Les Carpenter is the latest to report of a disagreement between the head coach and the Redskins ownership over Haskins. According to “a person with knowledge of Gruden’s thinking” the Skis [sic] head coach “did not want Haskins,” Carpenter wrote in The Washington Post Friday.

Carpenter added Haskins has downplayed the idea he wasn’t Gruden’s top choice publicly but citing a “person close to the rookie quarterback,” Haskins has evidently sensed that is the case. …

Prior to the NFL Draft, 106.7 The Fan’s Grant Paulsen reported, “(Snyder) loves Dwayne Haskins and, I think, Bruce Allen, from what I was told, loves Dwayne Haskins… The football guys don’t as much.”

Paulsen added Gruden likes Daniel Jones and Drew Lock and “I don’t think (Gruden) wants to take a quarterback at all, for the record.”

I must say, I respect the hell out of the work Nate has been doing, covering the absolute nightmare scenario that Jay Gruden is presenting Bill Belichick with this week. But even more so, I respect Gruden for pulling off this absolutely Machiavellian scheme to confuse and frustrate the Patriots.

It’s not hard enough to gameplan a defense when you don’t know which quarterback their facing. Will it be Case Keenum, the older, ineffective starter? Will it be Colt McCoy, the even older, incompetent backup? Or will it be Dwayne Haskins, the young, ineffectual rookie? The Patriots might have the best defense in a football generation which has given up one touchdown in it’s last 20 quarters. But good luck preparing for Sunday when the R-words have you in a conundrum like that.

And just to add to Gruden’s brilliant, tactical, Harry Potterish Confundus Charm, he plants this story alleging that he never wanted to use the 15th pick to take Haskins. That the guy was forced on him by ownership. Like Dan Snyder would ever meddle in the affairs of the football ops people. You don’t get to his level of success by butting into the personnel decisions of the people you hire. That’d be a loser move. And no one’s ever accused Snyder of being a loser.

So yeah, the timing of this article is everything. This is something right out of the animal kingdom. A fierce predator pretending to be wounded to draw in its prey. Gruden is luring the Patriots in with his perceived weakness. And then he’ll spring the trap he’s set and have them right where he wants them.

For the record, the Redskins currently have the 28th fewest points and have given up the 31st most, for the league’s 3rd worst -52. The Pats are at a by far best +95. And in the three times the teams have met in the last decade, the Patriots have won by an average score of 37 – 14. So it’s a bold strategy for Jay Gruden to completely bamboozle them with this long con about not knowing who’s going to be under center and making up this ruse about not wanting his rookie. Well played, Gruden. I’d hate to be in those meeting rooms in Foxboro right now, trying to figure this out.