Washington Redskins head coach Jay Gruden has wanted to nail down a starting quarterback for the regular season after the third preseason game.
Unfortunately for Gruden, some of the complications haven’t been easy to see coming. Colt McCoy’s setback and unknown timetable, for example, has essentially made it a two-man race between Case Keenum and Dwayne Haskins.
But Gruden isn’t letting that derail the timetable, per Brian McNally of NBC Sports Washington: “Jay Gruden says ideally he’d pick his starting QB after this week’s preseason game in Atlanta. Has an idea which was he’s leaning, but…a lot can change in a week.”
Right now the leader in Gruden’s mind is hard to predict. Keenum has managed the offense well enough in his appearances, but the rookie Haskins has made some splash throws.
With Haskins, Gruden has focused on the little things like huddle management. If those traits typically tough on first-year players continue to emerge though, the upside on everything else might swing things Haskins’ favor.
Thursday’s Week 3 game should be pretty telling, both in which quarterback gets on the field first and how they play. That will let Gruden then pick his guy and install the gameplan for the fourth game and into Week 1.
