Bruce Allen talks about Scot McCloughan, Kirk Cousins, the Redskins draft and more

The NFL Owners Meetings have begun in Arizona, and Washington Redskins Team President Bruce Allen held several one on one interviews with local beat reporters from the Washington Post, CSN Mid-Atlantic, the Washington Times, and CBS DC. Allen talked about the firing of General Manager Scot McCloughan, Jay Gruden’s influence on the team, Kirk Cousins’ contract negotiations, the draft, and more. You can view the full CSN interview here, along with several clips from the interview, and quotes from the various interviews from yesterday.

Scot McCloughan:

“I thought it was the right thing to do for where we were at the time,” Allen said Sunday, making his first public comments about McCloughan’s ouster since the Redskins abruptly fired him two years and two months into his four-year contract. “We wanted to give clarity to our free agents and to our staff of where we were going. For Scot, it was good timing because it allows him to be hired by anyone right now before this draft.”

“I enjoyed working with them and the success we had in Oakland. Obviously that’s what I envisioned when I brought Scot to the Redskins,” Allen said of his hand-picked general manager. “So, yes, I’m disappointed it didn’t work out. I hope it works out for him in the future. My responsibility is to the Redskins and the organization and the scouts and the players on this team.”

via Washington Post

"I've heard all this different speculation," Allen said. "That's ridiculous. Scot and I have had conversations [before the firing]. We're on the same page.

"There's a personal side in that I brought him to the Redskins and hoped for, obviously, not just a different outcome but a better situation for him and for the Redskins. Yeah, that hurts. I do wish him the best. I like Scot. It feels like our friendship obviously will be strained."

via ESPN

Jay Gruden:

“[Gruden] has established himself as a good leader for our team,” Allen said. “Our players have responded well to him. His honesty and his directness and his sense of humor have taken us through some speed bumps in the season. His ability to creatively come up with new ways to attack a defense is something that we’re very fortunate to have.”

via Washington Post

Kirk Cousins:

"I've had a number of talks with Kirk this offseason, not specifically with his contract, but what his hopes are, his dreams," Allen said. "Our goal is the same. We want to sign him to a long-term contract. We have him under contract this year and we have an option on it next year, the way the rules work."

Allen said he doesn't want to trade Cousins this offseason just to get something in return if no deal appears within reach.

"No," Allen said. "We're focused on the 2017 season. ... I'm not into the speculation game as much. We have a plan and we're going to try and execute the plan, which includes signing him to a long-term deal, and Kirk knows that. Hopefully we can work it out."

via ESPN

Jim Tomsula:

The Draft:

As far as the draft, Allen said that he will be the tiebreaking vote should a situation call for one, though the team’s draft board will likely make that unnecessary. The most likely situation in which Allen would exercise final say would be in deciding whether or not to make a trade up or down during the draft, he said.

“If you’re trying to say is it my responsibility? Yes,” Allen said.

via Washington Times

New General Manager:

“We’re focused on the draft with our staff right now,” Allen said. “After the draft we’ll analyze and see if we need to add a person – persons – to the group in order to shore it up in any way possible. It could be somebody from within, it could be somebody from without….But we’re doing a good job of focusing today and we’ll worry about May in May.”

via CBS DC

Josh Doctson, Terrelle Pryor, Brian Quick:

“We lost 2,000 yards in receivers — and two really good guys in DeSean (Jackson) and Pierre (Garcon),” Allen said, asked whether he viewed the selection of Doctson as a mark against McCloughan. Both unrestricted free agents this offseason, Jackson left for Tampa Bay, while Garcon signed with San Francisco.

“I love them on the field, off the field. Great guys,” Allen said of Jackson and Garcon. “We were able to sign 1,600 yards in receivers in Terrelle Pryor and Brian Quick. So we need Josh to step up and take that opportunity. He has an opportunity now to succeed.”

“We fully anticipate him being healthy,” Gruden said. “That’s obviously out of our control, but he’s going to have a major impact on this offense once he gets healthy.”

via Washington Post