By Popular Demand. Should the Skins FIRE Jay Gruden? Thread

[HTTR]

Originally Posted by KI Skins Fan

We need a well-qualified, capable GM who has full authority over all football operations personnel. Only that person should evaluate Jay Gruden and make any decisions about Jay's future here. Until that happens, there is nothing to be gained by firing Jay. So I vote no.

Agreed. Firing Gruden now just reinforces the idea that Snyder and Allen are the true brain trust of the team while coaches are expendable commodities who come and go. If I thought either of them had a line on a true, proven A-list coach as a replacement for JG, then sure, go for it. But we all know that this is not the case. The Gruden replacement would be just another Gruden or likely worse.

The biggest Skins debacle in the past 10 years was betting the farm on RG3. Not only did we not get a QB out of that, but we lost a bunch of #1 picks. We are still paying for that in lack of depth. JG helped extricate us from that blunder and earned some independence and credibility with our FO. A new coach starts with neither.

And while I agree that Gruden has looked lost at times (maybe more like pissed off and frustrated), you also have to consider how fired up and prepared we were vs Raiders, Chiefs, and Saints. The absence of a running game and WRs, plus injuries, eventually doomed us, but I saw the start of something that looked like swagger; players were giving their all, they (including 2nd and 3rd stringers) just aren't that good.

The one player who has given us any hope is Cousins, developed mostly by Gruden. And if he goes, we'll need to develop another QB.

This doesn't mean I think JG is an A-list coach, just that he's got something going on that can be built on. The idea of blowing things up again and turning back to Snyder and Allen to fix it is desperate and delusional.