Robert Griffin will play when he is ready. (Brad Mills-USA TODAY Sports)
ASHBURN, Va. — Washington Redskins quarterback Robert Griffin III returned to individual drills during Wednesday’s practice for the first time since he dislocated his left ankle in the first quarter of Week 2 against the Jacksonville Jaguars.
Griffin is expected to return to full practice before the Oct. 27 game at Dallas, but his return to game action remains unclear, although coach Jay Gruden said that he will take back the starting job from Kirk Cousins whenever he’s ready to play.
“Once he practices with us, we feel like he’s ready to go and we have a good game plan for him, he’ll be the starter,” said Gruden, who was encouraged by how Griffin looked on Wednesday. “(It’s up) to the doctors and trainers as far as his timetable is concerned,” Gruden said. “It could be one week, two weeks or five weeks. … We’ve gotta make sure that he’s fully himself when he comes back on that field.
Said Cousins, who has filled in during Griffin’s absence, “(Robert’s return) can’t affect my preparation. If it does, I’m not going to be where I need to be. He needs to get ready, he needs to do what he needs to do to be ready to go.”
Gruden said that if Washington’s downward spiral — four straight losses — continues, he would consider replacing Cousins with third-stringer Colt McCoy if Griffin still isn’t ready.
— Stephen Bowen had been sidelined since Week 11 of 2013 when he injured his right knee so seriously in Philadelphia that he needed microfacture surgery. So the 30-year-old defensive end was so excited to return to practice on Wednesday that he didn’t sleep through the night on Tuesday.
“I woke up about 3’clock; I was a little nervous, a little excited,” said Bowen, a starter since he arrived from Dallas in 2011. “My knee feels real good. (I need) to get my timing back. Mentally, just trusting it. It’s a little different when it’s live bullets. I want to help the team any way I can and contribute to the defense.”
Defensive end Jason Hatcher, Bowen’s teammate in Dallas from 2005-10, is looking forward to his return to action this week, next week or Nov. 2 in Minnesota, the last game for Washington to decide whether to active him or place him on season-ending injured reserve.
“I’ve been waiting for (this) day forever,” Hatcher said. “I’m glad to have him back. He’s a key component to this defense. He know it inside and out and he’s a hell of a ballplayer. He can rush the passer. Once he get back healthy, hopefully me and him in the middle, it’ll be pretty good. (And) he can stop the run.”
— Receiver Leonard Hankerson tore the ACL and LCL in his left knee in the same loss to the Eagles. And he, too, returned to practice on Wednesday with hopes of being activated at some point soon.
“It’s been a long time,” said Hankerson, who started seven of the 10 games in which he was healthy and caught 30 passes for 375 yards and three touchdowns in 2013, his third NFL season. “I can’t complain about the six weeks (on the in-season physically unable to perform list). It flew by. I’m ready to go. I’ve been (catching balls) every day the last couple of months.”
Gruden believes that Bowen and Hankerson are “both on track” to be activated rather than miss the rest of the season.
Gruden added that he was “very impressed” with both of them, saying the 6-foot-2, 211-pound Hankerson, who brings “a little bit of a different presence, a bigger guy” and that the 6-5, 300-pound Bowen “is a big physical presence inside.”
