The Browns and RG3? What year is it again?

Aug 13, 2015; Cleveland, OH, USA; Washington Redskins quarterback Robert Griffin III (10) runs the ball during the first quarter of preseason NFL football game against the Cleveland Browns at FirstEnergy Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Andrew Weber-USA TODAY Sports

Once the news broke that the Washington Redskins had chosen Kirk Cousins to be the team’s starting quarterback, we knew it would only be a matter of time before the headlines started to appear.

You know the ones we’re talking about:

• Cleveland Browns should try to acquire QB Robert Griffin III
• Possible landing sports for Robert Griffin III

To those and to anyone who thinks the Browns should spend any time at all even considering bringing in Griffin we have to wonder what year they are living in.

If this was 2012 then we would be all in on the Browns making a run at RG3. That was the year where he threw for 20 touchdowns against just five interceptions, while adding another seven rushing touchdowns and being named the league’s Rookie of the Year.

But since injuring his knee against Seattle in the playoffs that season, it has all been downhill for Griffin, whose continuing list of injuries has robbed him of the one skill that made his game work: his speed and athleticism.

Like many quarterbacks coming out of a college, Griffin was not asked to do very much in Baylor’s spread offense – he and the rest of the skill players just needed to go out and make something happen.

That doesn’t work on the NFL level, however, and now that Griffin is no longer able to outrun his mistakes, his shortcomings – not reading defenses, not mastering the playbook, not willing to accept blame – are highlighted on a weekly basis. It is so bad that his offensive lineman reportedly don’t even like playing with him. (Which, if true, is a major problem since one of their primary jobs is to protect the quarterback.)

There is also the issue of who the Redskins chose as the starting quarterback.

Unless Washington is going to play a 16-game schedule solely against the Browns, Cousins is not a good quarterback. How do we know this? The Redskins willingly benched Cousins last season so they could play Colt McCoy. We all watched McCoy when he was with the Browns and McCoy is no one’s first (or second) option to be a starting quarterback.

And as ESPN Stats & Information points out, while Griffin is just 5-15 over the past two seasons with a touchdown-to-interception ratio of just +1, Cousins is even worse as he has gone 1-7 with a touchdown-t0-interception ratio of -2.

So what does that say about RG3 if they would rather have Cousins over him?

Look, we get it. The Browns have an ongoing quarterback issue and until they finally resolve it, they are going to be an easy target every time a quarterback’s name comes up. But picking through someone else’s trash is simply not the way to go about solving the problem.

There is also one last thing to consider: The Browns are already busy rebuilding Johnny Manziel’s game (who has many of the same problems as RG3), do they really have the time or desire to rebuild Griffin’s as well?

Next: What do the NFL's injury designations mean for the Browns?