While Jay Gruden stayed in Ashburn putting together his coaching staff for next season, the Redskins sent one coach to Mobile, Ala. for the Senior Bowl last week: passing game coordinator/quarterbacks coach Kevin O'Connell.
And according to 106.7 The Fan Redskins insider Chris Russell, O'Connell could see his role expand very soon.
"I still have some strong suspicions, based on people that I talk to, that he might become the play-caller at some point next year," Russell told The Sports Junkies Monday. "And it might even be from the start."
"This guy is high, high, highly regarded, in the NFL, in college football. And I was told over the weekend -- and I've been told this a couple of times -- that Dan Snyder really knows how special this guy can be."
"Do they make him, ultimately, the play-caller from the start and take that away from Jay to try and make Jay a better head coach and try to make the operation better, and give Kevin O'Connell the keys to essentially (help) determine a big part of the next layer of the franchise? I don't know if they're gonna actually do that, but that's where it's starting to head right now," Russell continued.
"We'll have to see how it all comes together and if they can procure him and keep him, because he is getting interest from other teams. The bottom line is, they've got a lot to figure out, not only on the players' side, but also on the coaching side."
With Alex Smith not expected to return in 2019, O'Connell was busy during his time in Mobile scouting quarterbacks. Don't expect the Redskins to wait until the later rounds to take a new QB, Russell says.
"They're gonna draft a quarterback, and they're gonna draft it early," he told the Junkies. "How early? I don't know, it depends on who's there at 15. I don't think they should move up, despite having, I think, nine picks."
"They're gonna draft a quarterback early, period. There is no question about that," Russell continued. "Alex Smith was never going to play in 2019. And I don't want to be a gloom and doom guy, (but) he's unlikely, let's just leave it at that, to play ever again, period."
Once again, the Redskins face uncertainty over their signal-caller on the field. And they very could have a new face doing so on the sidelines in O'Connell.
Follow Josh Luckenbaugh and 106.7 The Fan on Twitter
