JAGUARS HIRE JAY GRUDEN AS OFFENSIVE COORDINATOR

Robin Alam/Icon Sportswire

The Jaguars have hired their new offensive coordinator. 

BY JORDAN DE LUGO

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The Jaguars have hired former Redskins head coach, Jay Gruden, to be their offensive coordinator. It took the team just over a week to name John DeFilippo's replacement. 

Gruden's time in Washington was marred by issues at the top of the Redskins' organization, but his resume is impressive.

He worked with Andy Dalton in Cincinnati as the Bengals' offensive coordinator from 2011 to 2013 and got the most out of the Red Rifle. In '12 and '13, Dalton threw a combined 60 TD passes. 

 He also found early success in Washington with  Robert Griffin III (before his unfortunate injury) and Kirk Cousins. In 2018, when the Redskins acquired Alex Smith, Gruden was again coaching a successful offense. But Smith suffered a devastating leg injury (with complications after the surgery) after just ten games and hasn't played football since. After an 0-5 start to the 2019 season, Washington fired Gruden. 

While there are mixed opinions, especially from fans of the Skins, about Gruden's coaching style and communication, there's no question that he's the most accomplished offensive coordinator to join the Jaguars' staff in some time. From 2013-2017, he didn't coach an offense that finished worse than 16th in the NFL. He's gotten solid production out of every QB he's worked with.  And that trend is likely to continue in Jacksonville with Gardner Minshew. 

Gruden traditionally runs a quick strike west coast style offense but likes to get his QBs on the move with play action and isn't afraid to have his signal-caller take some deep shots. 

"We have a base philosophy on offense: Trying to get everybody involved, short passing game, receivers doing a lot of the work after the catch, the good hard, play-action, taking some shots down the field, being very diverse in what we do," Gruden said shortly after becoming the Redskins' head coach.

All of those principals seem to fit well with Gardner Minshew can do on the field. Minshew is far from a finished product, but Gruden should help him take the next step as a QB. 

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