Jay Gruden is gone, but who will replace him in Washington?
Now that Jay Gruden has been fired, here are five candidates to be the next head coach of the Washington Redskins.
To the surprise of no one, himself surely included, Jay Gruden was fired as head coach of the Washington Redskins early Monday morning. He entered the season on a very warm seat, and an 0-5 start after Sunday’s 33-7 loss to the New England Patriots sealed his inevitable fate.
Assistant head coach/offensive line coach Bill Callahan will take over as interim head coach for the rest of the season. The former Raiders and Nebraska head coach may be a candidate for the permanent post looking to 2020, but owner Daniel Snyder surely has his eye on a bigger name. The larger question is if said big name, or someone of a similar ilk, would have any interest in the job and thus be willing to insert themselves into what is now two decades of dysfunction under Snyder’s ownership.
But the Redskins can get a head start on their search for a new head coach, and consider a wide swath of candidates if they want to. Landing the right guy will be the tougher challenge, as anyone with options will presumably consider those to all ends before Washington.
That said, the cliché there are only 32 of the kind of job the Redskins are offering applies. So here are five candidates to be the next head coach in Washington.
5. Urban Meyer
If Meyer returns to coaching, which feels inevitable, it is more likely to be in college (at USC?). But during his successful runs at Florida and Ohio State he was on the periphery of the conversation for NFL jobs.
If the Redskins (Snyder) are committed to stay married to rookie quarterback Dwayne Haskins, Meyer is plenty familiar with him. Haskins only season as a college starter of course came under Meyer at Ohio State in 2018.
Meyer called Haskins the best quarterback prospect he’d ever seen when Haskins was coming to Columbus out of high school, and more recently as the 2019 pre-draft process was getting going he had high praise for his former quarterback.
Urban Meyer on #Redskins QB Dwayne Haskins: “He’s going to be great. He’s very intelligent. His only issue is that he played just one year, every other thing he’s got it...Great kid. Very smart. He was the most accurate passer that I’ve ever had.” https://t.co/8cGFAMsC9V
— D. Orlando Ledbetter (@DOrlandoAJC) June 25, 2019
Snyder may have his eye on Meyer to some degree. If Meyer really wants the opportunity to coach Haskins again, there’s a non-zero chance he’d consider going to the NFL (and Washington).