The Washington Redskins have been an absolute mess this season. The team has no long-term answer at quarterback, the rookie head coach has looked overwhelmed and the front office seems clueless on how to build a team. Coming into this season, Redskins fans actually had hope, but now, at 3-11, that hope has been thoroughly beaten out of them.
Adding to the chaos is the rumor that head coach Jay Gruden has soured on Washington's big free agent addition this offseason, wide receiver DeSean Jackson. Gruden gave Jackson a lukewarm assessment during a Tuesday conference call with reporters in Philadelphia.
"He's a very good wide receiver but...the last couple weeks he's been dealing with an injury and he hasn't been quite the same," Gruden said. "I'm a what-have-you-done-for-me-lately kind of guy and lately we haven't seen the DeSean we need to see."
There is nothing wrong with a coach giving an honest assessment of one of his players. But is now, amid constant turmoil, the best time to call out the notoriously mercurial Jackson? And was praising Jackson's former teammate Jeremy Maclin really necessary?
"He's a consistent pro, man," Gruden said of Maclin. "I love the way he plays, his approach to the football game....He's tough and it seems like whenever Philly needs a big play, third down and long or they're trailing, Maclin seems to always show up.
"Type of guy you want. Accountable guys that when the game's on the line they have no problem making the play, and Jeremy's done that."
It sounds like an indictment of Jackson and an unfair comparison to Maclin, who is a pending free agent by the way. Jackson may not always be the best locker room guy, but the Redskins offense has been a mess for much of this season. That falls more on Gruden's shoulders than it does on Jackson. Either way, it seems that Gruden isn't exactly thrilled with the wide receiver's play recently.
"That last part - 'type of guy you want' - comes a little close to tampering, given that Maclin will be a free agent after the season," Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk wrote. "Maybe he's precisely the type of guy Gruden wants, and maybe Jackson is precisely the type of guy Gruden has decided he doesn't want."
Jackson got off to a hot start this season, topping 100 yards receiving in five of his first nine yards. However, he has failed to eclipse that mark since Week 9. Overall, Jackson has caught 50 balls for 957 yards and five touchdowns.
