ASHBURN — Washington Redskins coach Jay Gruden has to deal with a lot of details. The roster holds 53 men, not to mention 10 more on the practice squad, plus the plethora of other duties a coach needs to navigate in the country’s most popular sports league.
That’s why there can be some forgiveness when Gruden isn’t quite precise when targeting a number associated with one of his players. This happened Thursday when Gruden was trying to point out how mature he felt second-year wide receiver Jamison Crowder is.
“He’s 23 years old, probably, 22, maybe, 24 — I don’t know how old he is,” Gruden said to laughter. “Looks like he’s about 35, 40, he acts like it, very mature.”
OK. So, there was the point at the end of that careening assessment. Crowder, who turned 23 years old on June 17, has continued to creep into the Redskins’ offensive plans because he acts older than the calendar suggest he should. Fold his darting running ability and good hands in with his coach’s assessment to understand why he is at this point.
Last season was a quality first one for Crowder. He played all 16 games, made 59 catches, picking up 604 receiving yards. He was a dice roll out of Duke by general manager Scot McCloughan when he was pulled by the Redskins in the fourth round of the 2015 draft to join Pierre Garcon, Jordan Reed and DeSean Jackson as part of the Redskins’ receiving group. Back then, Washington also had Andre Roberts in the second season of his four-year, $16 million deal. Crowders’ emergence coupled with Roberts’ lack of production put a hasty end to that contract. Roberts is in Detroit on a one-year deal this season. He has one reception.
Three weeks into his second season, Crowder is on pace to crush the numbers from his first year. Extrapolated over 16 games, his current averages would lead to 85 catches, 933 yards and 10 touchdowns. He has two touchdowns in three weeks, matching his total from last season. A tunnel screen against the New York Giants in Week 3 produced a 55-yard touchdown for Crowder.
Quarterback Kirk Cousins is not surprised by the production. In fact, he may be a bit remorseful.
“I think it would be selling him short to say he’s a better player now than he was last year,” Cousins said. “He was really good last year, I mean he’s just — he’s a rookie, he’s a fourth-round pick. We’re trying to find out how he fits. We’re thinking that Pierre [Garcon] and DeSean [Jackson] and Jordan [Reed] are going to be the guys that we get the ball to, and then suddenly he just starts showing up time and again in training camp last year and early in the season and we started saying, wow, we’ve got to get him more involved. So, it might’ve been too little, too late. But, he’s a special player and he’s going to continue to be productive for us. We’ve got find ways to get him on the field more and more.”
There was one failing for Crowder last season. His punt returns delivered the same excitement as an order of toast. After a dynamic college career returning kicks, Crowder was often stuffed in the NFL. He averaged 5.3 yards per return, all but muting that portion of the game for the Redskins. No one among those qualified to be a league leader in the category was worse. Gruden said he repeatedly informed the 5-foot-8 Crowder that he could just fall forward and gain about two yards.
“You know, so, he got tired of me telling him,” Gruden said. “So, he’s really taking it upon himself to make some plays. That one against the Giants was almost single-handedly him.”
That “one against the Giants” was a 50-yard full-reverse-of-field return. Crowder appeared in trouble after initially running left, then encountering the sideline and a Giants defender. He stayed inbounds, made one defender miss, then a second. The opposite edge had opened by that time, in part thanks to safety Duke Ihenacho clobbering two would-be tacklers. That return helped vaulted Crowder’s punt return average to 21 yards this season. He is second in the NFL.
“I don’t necessarily think it’s just me,” Crowder said. “The punt return team is better. Last year, I had some times when I didn’t necessarily hit the hole like I should have. But there was a lot of times where there were three, four guys in my face. I can’t shake the whole team. This year, the guys are doing a really good job of holding up. I can field the ball, I can see the holes and where I want to go. A lot of that credit goes to the guys.”
Whatever his age, wherever the credit is attributed, Crowder has become a key for the Redskins’ offense. His coach is sure of that, even if other specifics escape him.
• Todd Dybas can be reached at tdybas@washingtontimes.com.
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