Redskins Press Conference: Jay Gruden 7-27-2016
Washington Redskins head coach Jay Gruden spoke with the media this afternoon. The Redskins reported to camp today and will open full practices tomorrow. Below is a transcript of Gruden’s presser.
On injury updates:
“We are going to go over that. This is the final part of the conditioning test or part of the rehab deal and we are going to go over it now as a staff and then make a final decision here in a couple of hours. The majority of them look pretty good. We might hold a couple of them back for a few days, but we will make that determination here in about an hour or two.”
On if there are higher expectations after winning the NFC East last season:
“I think that’s probably the consensus around here. They do feel higher. I think we accomplished a lot. We made major improvements last year and we continue to expect our team to make those improvements. This is no different. We’re excited as heck; we had a great OTA session. We just want to build off what we did during the OTAs moving forward… We always have high expectations for this football team, and this is no different here.”
On if ‘devastating’ is the right word to describe the injury sustained by LB Junior Galette:
“We’re upset obviously, more so of him as an individual. Just watching him work and getting ready from the previous injury, how hard he was training, the attitude that he came into the building with and the excitement that he was going to bring to this football team only to see it cut short with another Achilles. ‘Devastated’ is a good word for him. For this football team, injuries are a part of the game. We have to rebound. You know, Ryan Kerrigan, we saw Preston Smith, we’ve got Lynden Trail, we’ve got some young guys – Houston Bates – that are going to have to fill the void, that he so called would have filled for us. We are going to look at our young guys here in the building that we’re excited about. We still have some good pass rushers sitting here, and they are going to have to produce.”
On the plan now for QB Kirk Cousins:
“Well, we’re getting ready. He’s got to get himself ready, his body ready, his mind ready to play a tough NFL season. He’s got a year out of film, people are going to study on him and he’s got to study other people and prepare himself no differently and we’re going to coach him no differently. He’s a great football player, made great strides last year and we’re all excited about it but he’s got to continue that progress. The contract will take care of itself. We won’t have any conversations about the contract, about his future contracts, any of that stuff. All we’re going to focus on is this year and him getting better and being the best quarterback he can possibly be and I know that’s his intent also.”
On waiving DB Kyshoen Jarrett:
“It was hard. We still tried to stay as hopeful and as positive as we could throughout his rehab and seeing doctors and all that stuff. The news just never came out to be good enough. We’re mostly concerned about him getting better as a person and being able to function do things he needs to do in life, not so much about football at this time. We want to make sure that we do the best we can to take care of him. He’s still going to rehab. We just wish the best for him because he’s such a great kid. Great football player, obviously, but he’s a better kid than a football player. We want what’s best for him.”
On if Trent Murphy could contribute as a pass rusher in Galette’s absence:
“Yeah, that could happen. There’s so much nickel pass rush nowadays. The amount of times that we’re in a true 3-4 alignment is very slim – about 30 percent now anyway – and we have guys that can fill that void. We want to keep Trent inside for now. He could play defensive end in nickel in our sub-packages so that’s no problem there. We have some guys like I said – Houston Bates, Lynden Trail, Willie Jefferson and some other guys – that are going to compete for some of those reps and I think they’ll do good.”
On his feeling about the offseason and team chemistry going into training camp:
“Well, I feel very positive. I think the team feels very positive, too. We had a great – like I said – OTA session, there’s no question about it. Going against us obviously we can be positive all we want but we really showed great progress in my eyes. Secondary, linebackers, pass rush, pass blocking, run blocking, you know our backs did a lot better. Quarterbacks are obviously a lot more confident. The receiving corps has been excellent. Tight ends, I can’t say enough about them. So we feel good about all our position groups getting better and better and better. And the young guys developing in-house and not having to go out on the street and sign eight or nine free agents like we did my first year. Signing a key player like Josh Norman has been excellent, Vernon Davis, [David] Bruton’s been excellent. I think we’ve got a good combination, good veterans in place. Good young players developing in our building and we feel very confident, but we still have a lot of work to do, there’s no question about it. We were 9-8 last year, lost to the Packers at home in a big game obviously in the playoffs and we have a lot of work to do, no question about it. But we do feel good and very confident moving forward.”
On if he has a feel for what G Shawn Lauvao will be able do during camp:
“No, but he’s very close, though. I was just talking to him; I think he feels pretty good. I imagine he’ll be a couple days still, but I think he’ll be ready to roll shortly.”
On if Lauvao could participate by the end of camp:
“I would hope so, yes.”
On the most important thing he has accomplished as a head coach:
“Progress, probably. I think progress, some stability. Some of the coaching staff and some of the players that we brought in and developed throughout the program, that’s what you’re trying to do. I have some key veterans in place, but developed players throughout the program. We’ve had three pretty good drafts and some good young players developing in the program. We’ve shown lots of progress. And it’s just a matter of keep climbing. Keep climbing until we reach our ultimate goal, and that’s to win Super Bowls. We still have a long way to go to do that but we feel like progress is being made in the right direction. The addition of Scot McCloughan in the front office has been excellent. And the people that we have in the building we feel like we can accomplish all the goals we want to accomplish.”
On if the team could add a veteran running back:
“Yeah, could be. Some guys really looked pretty good in training camp. We have got Chris Thompson coming back, he looked good. Obviously Mack Brown we’ve had last year on the practice squad. Robert Kelley is the rookie free agent we picked up. Keith Marshall we’re excited about. We have some guys in the building we’re going to look at. And if it doesn’t work out, we’re always looking. Every position, Scot [McCloughan] and the scouting staff have their eyeballs across the league and who is available. But hopefully we don’t need to go that route. But if we do, there are going to be good players we can talk about.”
On how weather affects his planning for camp:
“I’ll have to wait and see. I might have to cut some periods if it gets too hot. Maybe change the practice to the morning, flop our walkthrough and our afternoon practice where our pads are in the morning and afternoon is the walkthrough. We’ll see how it goes but we’re going to keep them hydrated. I’m going to keep a close eye on each and every individual player. Our trainers will. I told our coaches, ‘Keep an eye on each individual player, keep them hydrated,’ and we’ll just go and take it day by day.”
Redskins Press Conference: Jay Gruden 7-27-2016
