Jason Hatcher’s first season with the Redskins reaches disappointing end

Sitting in front of his locker Friday afternoon, Jason Hatcher was asked to summarize his injury-plagued first season with the Washington Redskins.

“It was frustrating, man. But you have those years. It happens,” Hatcher said. “I’m looking forward to this offseason conditioning and getting ready for next year, to be as healthy as I can and stay that way.”

The defensive end was listed as doubtful for Sunday’s season finale against his former team, the Dallas Cowboys, with an unspecified right knee injury. But in the way he spoke about his injury, it was immediately evident that his season would be over.

The Redskins made it official Saturday, placing Hatcher on injured reserve and signing defensive tackle Travian Robertson from Seattle’s practice squad. The move marks the end of the 32-year-old’s disappointing first season in Washington.

Hatcher, who had missed the Redskins’ past two games, said he is disappointed that his knee hasn’t improved as quickly as expected. Coach Jay Gruden echoed that disappointment while explaining why the team didn’t put Hatcher on injured reserve earlier in the season.

“We thought there was a chance [he’d return],” Gruden said this week, before Hatcher’s move to IR had been announced. “It just hasn’t progressed like we thought it would. It was the type of injury that didn’t really need surgery, we didn’t think. So we thought maybe the swelling or the soreness would be something he could play with, but obviously it hasn’t as of yet.”

The Redskins signed Hatcher to a four-year, $27.5 million contract in the offseason with hopes that he would be a dominant interior pass-rusher to complement outside linebackers Brian Orakpo and Ryan Kerrigan. But the longtime Cowboy was limited in training camp after having arthroscopic surgery on his left knee, and he continued to struggle with injuries all season.

Hatcher recorded only 5 1/2 sacks this year, with nearly half of that total coming in a Week 2 blowout of the Jacksonville Jaguars.

“Early on, I think when we had everybody healthy, I think he was doing a good job obviously,” Gruden said. “But I think overall for anybody to say that we were completely pleased with coaching performances or player performances would be a little over-exaggerated. But I think Hatcher came in here, he’s a great guy who works hard and I really appreciate what he brought to this team not only from the football player standpoint but from a person standpoint. So moving forward, I’m glad he’s on our team.”

Though Hatcher was unable to play late in the year, he continued to watch practice from the sidelines and help out the team in any way possible. “I’ve just been more of a coach these last couple weeks,” he explained.

While Hatcher’s first season in Washington didn’t go as planned, he is already looking forward to next year.

“It’s just one of those things, you get a little ding early in the season, you ain’t able to rest it and then stuff started piling up from then on,” Hatcher said. “But it’s just one of those things I grind through. It’s just a learning process.”