The Washington Redskins quietly emptied their lockers at Redskins Park on Monday morning, a long season behind them and an even longer offseason ahead.
Robert Griffin III’s stall had been cleared by 9 a.m. Leonard Hankerson’s locker contained only empty shoeboxes. Other players came and left, taking time to chat as they shoveled their belongings into transparent trash bags and lugged them upstairs to the parking lot.
There were traces of uncertainty in the air, but also relief.
“Honestly, man, I can’t even say [it was] a rollercoaster,” Darrel Young said, “because it’s been pretty much down, the whole season.”
After an embarrassing 44-17 loss to the Dallas Cowboys at FedEx Field on Sunday, Washington closed the book on another disappointing season, finishing with a record of 4-12 and occupying last place in the NFC East for the sixth time in seven seasons. As the NFL’s elite began preparing for the playoffs, the Redskins were packing trash bags in Ashburn, still trying to figure out where their season went wrong.
“Everybody has to be accountable,” safety Ryan Clark said. “You can’t pass the buck. You can’t pass blame. You need to understand that we all had a hand in only winning four games. I think you need to understand that from the top of the organization to the bottom. And I think if people do that, then that will allow you to approach it in a very honest and truthful way.”
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Coach Jay Gruden held a brief team meeting Monday morning to announce the dates of offseason training activities and thank players for their hard work. He then met with “about 95 percent” of players individually. Some of those meetings lasted 30 seconds, according to Gruden, while others went on for several minutes. Running back Roy Helu said players were not definitively told whether they will be part of the team’s future plans, but “people will actually get a good feeling from meetings.”
Gruden said he expected to sit down with team president and general manager Bruce Allen on Tuesday, then meet with Allen and owner Dan Snyder on Sunday. The head coach said those meetings will mark the beginning of a top-to-bottom evaluation of the organization, a process that could last weeks or months and will ultimately lead to change — on the coaching staff, in the locker room, or both.
“Sometimes the best addition to your football team is subtraction. That’s what we’ve got to figure out,” Gruden said. “I promise you this: This will not be the same football team [or] football staff right now that we’re going to have the start of next year.”
The first changes could occur on the coaching staff. Though Gruden again endorsed defensive coordinator Jim Haslett’s efforts with limited personnel this season and said he would recommend that Haslett be retained, it will ultimately be a group decision with Allen and Snyder. The secondary also struggled tremendously this season under defensive backs coach Raheem Morris.
The team will likely try to answer some of its questions at quarterback as well. Because of injuries and poor performance, Griffin, Kirk Cousins and pending free agent Colt McCoy each played at least 22 percent of the team’s offensive snaps this year. Gruden said it would be tough to have an open competition with three quarterbacks this summer.
“It’s very difficult to have three with the reps that you get,” he said. “You’d like to try to narrow it down to at least two. But like I said, if somebody said that, ’Hey, you have to play with this guy, this guy or that guy,’ I’d be comfortable working with one. I’d like to pick one as soon as I could so we could really try to work and grind on him and develop him, but until that position is earned, you have to have a competition. And I anticipate us having a competition at a lot of spots, and quarterback is no different next year.”
McCoy is one of 12 Redskins players who will become unrestricted free agents this offseason, a list headlined by outside linebacker Brian Orakpo, strong safety Brandon Meriweather and defensive end Jarvis Jenkins. Veterans Ryan Clark and Santana Moss, each 35 years old, are also free agents but could elect to retire if they are not re-signed. Three other players — right tackle Tom Compton, kicker Kai Forbath and free safety Duke Ihenacho — will be restricted free agents.
Helu, Forbath and others said they would like to return, but they know those decisions are out of their control.
“I have no idea,” pending free agent Tyler Polumbus said of his future. “I’ll just take it one day at a time and see what God has in store.”
Polumbus sealed a cardboard box with tape as he spoke. Meanwhile, other players heaved trash bags over their shoulders and left the locker room, bound for their offseason homes. They would soon scatter across the country, from Louisiana and Texas to California and Colorado, with some electing to stay in Northern Virginia and spend their days at Redskins Park.
Many players said they plan to take a short break, both physically and emotionally, before getting back to work. They will rest, then reflect on the frustrating season that was.
“I think it’s just good to get away from the game right now,” Young said. “We’ve just got to understand what we’re trying to do. Are we trying to be football players, or are we just trying to make money? I think the problem is right now, we have the talent. We’ve just got to find who to follow and where to go with this thing.”
• Tom Schad can be reached at tschad@washingtontimes.com.
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