At one point a decade ago, Jay Gruden was what Dan Snyder and his braintrust were looking for in a head coach for the Commanders, so he was hired and spent five-plus seasons here.
Times change, owners change, and the Harris group now has a blank slate on the football side, and in Gruden's final post-Commanders Monday visit with Grant & Danny, he felt sympathy for the latest ex-coach in a string of them
"Ron went through a lot, man. He's a good guy and a good football coach, and had to deal with the ownership change and some personal issues, so it's a tough day for everybody," Gruden said. "He brought his staff in, and unfortunately, the players did not respond. They just didn't play good enough, and when that happens, teams look for new coaches."
Ron said toward the end of this season that one of his biggest laments was never finding his quarterback, and that, to Gruden, was the fatal flaw of the regime.
"They had a chance to get Tua or Justin Herbert, and you have to address the quarterback position number one when you're in the NFL," Gruden said. "When you're trying to force feed a second-year player down everybody's throats and it's not working out, you're not going to win a lot of games, and unfortunately, Sam wasn't ready to take over the reins quite yet. That's not to say he won't be in a couple of years, but just the quarterback situation wasn't good enough. And then defensively, they just didn't play up to speed with the players that they had; when you look back at the drafts that they had and free agency, they just don't have any like marquee superstar-type players that can get you over the hump when you need it."
So now it's a blank slate, and some interview requests are already out there – and Gruden agrees with Josh Harris' surmisal that the amount of draft capital, roster flexibility, and cap space the Commanders have make this a premier destination to make your mark in either the front office or on the sidelines.
"Any time you have a No. 2 pick it's a good job, because there are some really good quarterbacks that are very exciting prospects moving forward for your franchise, and that will attract a number of head coaches," Gruden said. "As a coach, I want a GM with great communication, a guy that trusts me and I could trust and we work together. That's the only thing you can have. You can't have people pull in different directions and having their own agenda; that's impossible to work together. You gotta be on the same page and work together, and as a coach, you better have a GM you can trust that knows exactly what you want to field the football team that you can coach."
And no, coach-centric may not be the best idea, even if it can work.
"Some coaches are gonna have plenty of options, so if they're going to go after the top names in the business, then they're probably gonna have to give up control of the franchise and that means personnel as well," Gruden said. "So that coach better be the guy that they want, because when he has total control, he's gonna get things his own way and that's it."
Gruden thinks the talent level on the team right now is "not enough" to compete at a high level, but there are some 'decent' players on the roster – so 'the people you pay have to perform at that level.'
And then we got a BEN JOHNSON ALERT as Grant asked Jay about some possible coaching ideas – take a listen above to that and the full conversation!
