The Washington Redskins made it official on Monday when it announced Kirk Cousins would be the quarterback to lead the team into the 2015 season. It’s a bold move considering how much it alienates former rookie of the year Robert Griffin III, and if it doesn’t work, it’ll almost certainly cost head coach Jay Gruden his job.

Speaking on ESPN’s ‘First Take’ the day of the announcement, analyst Skip Bayless was unrelenting in his criticism of Gruden, claiming there was a cloak-and-dagger situation taking place in D.C.

(Matt Hazlett/Getty Images)

At issue was Gruden’s handling of RG3 during the Redskins’ pre-season game against Detroit, which Griffen left with an injury. Bayless said Gruden was reckless with RG3, leaving him to play behind a “patchwork” offensive line and then shifted the blame onto Griffin when he was placed on “concussion protocol”. The heat of the exchange comes around the 10-minute mark of the video above:

“This is some fishy business going on in Washington. It sounds like sabotage to me. It sounds like Jay Gruden is going out of his way to make sure RG3 either looks bad or is disqualified from playing either one way or the other so that Kirk Cousins can play.”