Redskins' Jay Gruden: Robert Griffin III will be starter once fully ready

Washington Redskins head coach Jay Gruden said Wednesday that quarterback Robert Griffin III will reclaim his starting job once he's fully recovered from his ankle injury and prepared to play.

Washington Redskins head coach Jay Gruden said Wednesday that quarterback Robert Griffin III will reclaim his starting job once he's fully recovered from his ankle injury, according to TheWashington Post.

Griffin III returned to practice on Wednesday, albeit in limited fashion, for the first time since he dislocated his left ankle in Washington's game against the Jacksonville Jaguars in Week 2. Gruden said he looked "fine."

There's still no definite timetable for Griffin's return, but according to Gruden, when he is fully prepared to play, Griffin will once again start over Kirk Cousins.

“He’s got to get cleared first, then we’ll have to have a plan. Once they say he’s healthy and he practices with us and we feel like he’s ready to go mentally and we have a good game plan for him, then he’ll be the starter,”

Gruden said

. “But I don’t know when that will be yet. That’s hard for me to project. Could be one week, two weeks. Could be five weeks. I don’t know yet.

“He looks good so far, he’s making good progress, as we knew he would, the type of worker he is. But making progress in the training room and making progress on the practice field are two entirely different things and we just got to make sure he’s right both mentally and physically before he gets back out on the field.”

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It had been reported earlier that Griffin could return for Washington's Oct. 27 game against the Dallas Cowboys.

At the time of Griffin's injury, Gruden refused to rule out the possibility of starting Cousins over Griffin even when the latter was healthy, with the coach even reportedly favoring Cousins over the returning starter.

Cousins has struggled since taking over for Griffin, especially in his last three games, throwing seven interceptions in losses to the New York Giants, Seattle Seahawks and Arizona Cardinals. Overall this season, Cousins has completed 61.7 percent of his passes for 1,571 yards, 10 touchdowns and eight interceptions.

Before his injury, Griffin threw for a total of 305 yards, with no touchdowns or interceptions, in a season-opening loss to the Houston Texans and a portion of the win over the Jacksonville Jaguars before he left the game due to his injury.

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The Redskins have lost all four of Cousins's starts this season and are 1-5 overall and in last place in the NFC East. Washington hosts the Tennessee Titans this Sunday.

- Ben Estes