Not only did Washington make Greg Manusky sit in on interviews for his possible replacement, they then filled their defensive coordinator’s staff with plenty of guys with experience in his role once they decided to let him keep it.
While that may not speak well for Manusky’s job security, head coach Jay Gruden said it was a positive for the team.
“I think part of it was by design, for sure,” Gruden said, via Les Carpenter of the Washington Post. “I think defensively I wanted to add some experience there to help coach Manusky without a doubt — somebody who has actually called defenses.”
They already had former 49ers head coach Jim Tomsula coaching the defensive line, and this offseason, they hired longtime NFL coordinators Ray Horton (secondary) and Rob Ryan (inside linebackers) to coach position groups.
Gruden said he thought the additions would be “a big benefit” for Manusky. He didn’t apply the same consideration to the other side of the ball, where he hired former 49ers quarterback Tim Rattay to be his quarterbacks coach despite Rattay having exactly no NFL coaching experience.
While Gruden can spin it however he wants, Manusky’s status was tenuous to begin with, and having so many guys ready to be interim coordinators if things go wrong only adds to the awkwardness of an already weird situation.