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Robert Griffin III is down (again), but he's far from out of the NFL
And thus ends the great Robert Griffin III experiment?
The Cleveland Browns announced Monday that the shoulder injury suffered by RG3 in his team debut — the one Griffin downplayed in a post-loss press conference Sunday — was actually a fractured bone in his left shoulder that will send him to injured reserve and keep him out until at least Week 10. Josh McCown, who started eight games in 2015, will play in Griffin's absence. (At least recycling last year's quarterback means the Browns won't have to add to that unbelievable, ignominious list of 25 starting quarterbacks since 1999.)
Who starts for the Browns, of course, is trivial. The obvious lead here is what happens to Robert Griffin III now?
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The NFL world is already throwing dirt on his grave, suggesting this will be the last of the line for a guy who was Rookie of the Year just four seasons ago. He can't stay healthy, he isn't good when healthy and what made him good in the first place is an offensive scheme that's been figured out by NFL defenses and hindered by those knee injuries Griffin sustained under the not-so-watchful eye of the Shanahan family. (Four years ago, could you have imagined that Robert Griffin and Colin Kaepernick would be yesterday's news? Well, in football terms.)
Pump the brakes on the funeral though. Josh McCown is 37 years old, a 14-year veteran on his sixth team. He went 1-7 last year after going 1-11 the year before in Tampa. (That's 2 for his last 18 if you don't want to do the math.) Barring a turnaround that would shock everybody, most notably McCown himself, he's not the long-term answer in Cleveland and is barely the short-term solution. New coach Hue Jackson, who, if he hadn't already, was certainly asking himself Sunday why he ever went to the Browns, isn't a guy with much, if any, job security on a team that's had eight coaches since 2004 and fired one after a single season. He needs to do something — anything. Riding a 37-year-old mediocre quarterback isn't one of those things. I'd put it at better than even money that USC rookie Cody Kessler (or someone from the street) is starting for Cleveland by the time Griffin returns.
If he has at least a bit of talent, Kessler could be the guy. If he doesn't, what, is Jackson going to bail on RG3 because he had one bad game in his first week quarterbacking a bad franchise? Don't be silly.
But, for the sake of argument, let's say RG3 has just Wally Pipped his way out of a job. (Only the most timely references for you, dear reader.) You can't seriously think he wouldn't be able to find a job on one of the 30 other NFL depth charts?
NFL teams are seduced by talent — even if from the past. They all think they can be the team to "change" a player. "Under our system, with our tutelage, we can turn this guy into what he was." That's the blind confidence NFL coaches need and thrive on.
What, Jerry Jones wouldn't want a crack at RG3 after Tony Romo retires and, theoretically, Dak Prescott needs a backup? The Rams, who may try to use Jared Goff as a tax write-off, wouldn't kick the tires on Griffin, thus coming full circle. (They were the team that received a Snyder's ransom for moving out of position to draft Griffin.) There are so many bad quarterbacks in the league that if RG3 can manage to be halfway awful instead of fully awful, then he'll have a spot somewhere.
If it's not the Browns, it'll be some other team. I mean, Brandon Weeden is still on an NFL roster. Nick Foles is a backup. Eight years after running out of the end zone for the greatest safety in history, Dan Orlovsky is on his fifth team, backing up Matthew Stafford in Detroit. Case Keenum is a starter, and Christian Ponder somehow remains in the league. RG3 isn't done — not by a long shot. That list of players still in the NFL is the shining beacon of hope.
Griffin's flaws, unlike those of Johnny Manziel, are superficial. He's young enough that he's capable of a career resurrection. If Jim Plunkett can win two Super Bowls and Joe Gibbs can coach Doug Williams and Mark Rypien to others, then it just may be a matter of placement.
Yeah, Griffin has bought too much into the myth making around him. Deep down, it still seems like he wants to be the guy he was at Baylor and in his first (and only) magical season with the Redskins. His inability to slide is less technique than downright defiance. But he's no fool, either; he knows that while his window is closing faster by the minute, he still has plenty of time to wedge it back open. If it's not in Cleveland, it'll be somewhere else.
Maybe the third time will be the charm?
