RICHMOND, Va. — What a difference a day makes. The weather on Friday was near perfect as the Redskins took the field for day two. After the rain slowed down day one and the performance not up to the coaches liking, he challenged the team.
“Yesterday, Coach challenged us because he felt it wasn’t a great day,” DeSean Jackson said after the morning practice. “So today, we just came out with high energy, played at a high level and the tempo was there. Everybody flew around and made plays. We’re just building and every day has to be a building day.”
Head coach Jay Gruden liked the way his team responded on Friday as well.
Safety position
Gruden said to expect a very tough competition at safety. Phillip Thomas is coming back off of injury last year and performing at a high level early on. Second-year safety Bacarri Rambo, who had some tough moments his rookie year, is improving and working to get better. They brought in Ryan Clark and Brandon Merriweather is also back.
Fullback
For everyone wondering whether or not Jay Gruden will implement a fullback in his offense…
“I didn’t have Darrell Young in Cincinnati,” he said. “If I had him I would have used him.” He went on to say that Young will be “a major part of the offense.”
So, Darrell Young is making this team.
Kick returner
As of right now, Andre Roberts is first man up returning punts and kickoffs. Gruden said that could change, but as of now that’s what they’re doing. He praised Roberts’ versatility, noting that Roberts was all set to be the second wide receiver behind Garcon until DeSean Jackson “dropped in our laps.”
Jon Gruden Jon Gruden was in camp on Friday to speak to 100 high school coaches as part of a clinic for the Redskins Charitable Foundation.
He offered some thoughts on watching his brother run his first training camp, the offense and Robert Griffin III.
“To see him put the pieces together in terms of his coaching staff, to see how the tempo looked, to look at the script and what the plays sounded like, it was exciting. It was a real proud moment for me.”
He said he didn’t draw up any plays for his brother but…
“I”m sure that will be in the works at some point.”
As far as what he has seen from Robert Griffin III?
“Let’s be honest: it just started, how can you tell?” Gruden said. “They haven’t even put a pad on yet. This could be a period of a couple years where he transforms his game to a different level, hopefully. I think he’s coming along quickly.”
Gruden said that Griffin has the talent to become a great quarterback in this league but…
“I’m gonna temper everything right now. It’s the first day I’ve seen him, but all signs are good.”
Now you know when two competitive brothers are in the same place there is going to be some trash talking, right?
Jon also made a comment about him being the better athlete, to which Jay responded:
“I’m the better athlete, number one, let’s get that clear. Jon’s got a lot of B.S. with him, we all know that.”
Ah, the brotherly love. He was half kidding, or maybe not.
I can’t wait until Jon questions a move Jay makes while calling the Redskins preseason against Cleveland. That could be fun.
Peter King
Peter King of Sports Illustrated was in Richmond to watch practice as he does each training camp. I had a chance to catch up with him and he gave his thoughts on the hiring of Jay Gruden, Robert Griffin III bouncing back, Mike Shanahan coaching again and the Redskins team name. You can listen to the embedded audio to the right.
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