Washington Redskin Rumors: Robert Griffin III’s Future Appears To Be Outside Of Washington
The Washington Redskins have faced rumors for months regarding the exit of once-heralded Robert Griffin III, but a new assessment from league leaders seems to confirm that his future may be outside of Washington.
It has been a bad stretch of months for Griffin. After his much-heralded rookie season, things have fallen apart as injury and inconsistency have cost the quarterback his starting spot. He ended the 2014 season filled with uncertainty, including whether he would start for the Redskins again — or start anywhere, for that matter.
Things got a little worse this week, when a group of 35 general managers, head coaches, assistants, and personnel people compiled the ESPN’s Quarterback Tiers project, which ranked all of the league’s quarterbacks together in tiers. Griffin was placed in the lowest category, ranking No. 28 overall out of 32 quarterbacks listed.
Some of the criticism was particularly harsh.
“Five, and there’s no coming back,” one offensive coach said of Griffin. “He is done. The reason why is, the injury slowed his legs, and his ego will not allow him to hit rock bottom and actually grind his way back up the right way.”
His future appears equally as gloomy. Writing for ESPN, Kevin Siefert believes that the situation between Robert Griffin III and the Washington Redskins may now be too broken to fix.
“Most importantly, coach Jay Gruden never embraced Griffin as his franchise quarterback. Three months after he was hired, and before he had coached his first real practice, Gruden hoisted the red flag. After describing his offensive philosophy to reporters, he added: “But that all depends on what Robert can handle. If he can’t handle the terminology, or if he can’t handle a lot of the things, we might have to taper it back or cater to what he likes.”
“That’s not the kind of comment you hear from a coach committed to maximizing a talented if flawed player. Instead, it created the early impression that Gruden didn’t consider Griffin a good fit for the offense he wanted to run, a notion cemented when Griffin was benched in Week 13.”
But Siefert believes Griffin still has something to contribute and could fit in well with a winning team. He suggested the Buffalo Bills, where Rex Ryan has shown he’s good at supporting quarterbacks, and offensive coordinator Greg Roman built the San Francisco 49ers’ offense around the similarly talented Colin Kaepernick.
While there are no real trade rumors regarding the Washington Redskins and Robert Griffin III yet, if the season goes on and Griffin remains on the bench, the suitors may come calling.
[Photo: Wikimedia]
