WASHINGTON — The Redskins opened up their three-day mandatory minicamp on Tuesday at Redskins Park. These are the final three days of the off season program before a month off leading up to training camp in Richmond, Virginia. Camp opens on July 30.
Jay Gruden is holding practice this week in the middle of the afternoon in order to get his team ready for the intense Richmond heat that they will deal with once camp opens. There is a change to the practice schedule this year in Richmond, as practices will be held at 3 p.m. and the walk-through will take place at 10:35 a.m. Last year the schedule was reversed. Gruden said on Tuesday that he didn’t do it this way last year because he was worried about the afternoon thunderstorms, but after seeing that only a couple of practices would have been affected, he decided to make the change. He also feels that the day will be more productive.
“When you install in the evening, sometimes guys are so tired and rundown that you don’t get their attention,” he said. “We’re hoping that when they wake up bright and early, get a cup of coffee and a good breakfast, we’ll install our stuff, go out to the walk-through, we walk-through what we just installed, and then we practice it. I think the transition will be better and more conducive to learning for the players.”
That’s the football answer. The belief is also that it will attract more fans in the afternoon as it did in 2013 under Mike Shanahan.
As far as on the field Tuesday, it was more of the same as we saw in OTAs. I did think that Griffin had a pretty good day from what you could tell in helmets and shorts. Again, it’s one practice, but he looked confident in the 11-11 part of practice and was making quick decisions. Jay Gruden was even pleased as he was animated and shouting encouragement to Griffin at the end of plays.
“Every day he is doing something a little bit better, and that’s all we can ask,” Gruden said after practice. “We’re just taking baby steps. We’re all getting better together.”
Once minicamp wraps up on Thursday, Jay Gruden would hope to have accomplished a couple things.
“I think what we’re trying to do is finish our OTAs in a positive way,” he said. “A) Coming out here and establishing a tempo that we want to establish in training camp, show them what it’s going to be like at training camp, how we’re going to walk-through in the morning and practice in the afternoon in the heat. All those things to their minds right so that when they take off and go on vacation for these next four or five weeks that they know exactly what they’re getting into when they come back.”