Report: Cleveland Browns expected to strike deal with RG3
By Thomas Moore
The Cleveland Browns are expected to be the team that works out a deal with free agent quarterback Robert Griffin III.
If opposing coaches and general managers are to be believed, the Cleveland Browns are expected to work out a deal with free agent quarterback Robert Griffin III, according to Jay Glazer at Fox Sports.
Prevailing feeling among coaches and GMs here in Boca at NFL owners mtg is that most expect Browns to be able to get deal done w RG3
— Jay Glazer (@JayGlazer) March 23, 2016
Of course, unless one of those coaches or front office members is Hue Jackson or Sashi Brown, it may not matter what everyone else thinks.
The Browns hosted Griffin over the weekend and, along with the New York Jets and possibly the Los Angeles Rams and Denver Broncos, are kicking the tires on Griffin, a former first-round draft pick of the Washington Redskins.
Griffin, along with San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick, were supposed to take over the league with their running focused style of quarterback play, but both fell on hard times for a variety of reasons. In Griffin’s case, a knee injury suffered in a playoff loss to the Seattle Seahawks put a damper on his running ability and allowed opposing defenses to exploit his lack of development as a passer.
Things deteriorated so much for Griffin in Washington that he spent the entire 2015 season on the inactive list, a move that Washington head coach Jay Gruden attributed to Griffin’s injuries, but with one caveat:
#Redskins Jay Gruden attributed RG3's woes to injuries, thinks he's healthy now for who signs him. Says must still master dropback passing
— Mary Kay Cabot (@MaryKayCabot) March 23, 2016
Jackson, who seems to have never met a quarterback that he didn’t like, has been talking up Griffin in recent days.
“I heard the truth,” Jackson said, according to cleveland.com. “I mean, he takes responsibility. He knows there’s things he could have done better. And that’s where he is. To me that showed the humbleness. Because that’s what it’s all about. In this league you don’t grow if you don’t admit that you’ve made some mistakes.
“It’s no different than myself when I was the head coach of the Raiders. I made some mistakes. And you grow from them and you learn from them. Sometimes you’re not ready to do it the first time. Things happen. You move on from it and you grow from it and you get over the next hump.”
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As a rookie Griffin passed for 3,200 yards, 20 touchdowns and five interceptions, while rushing for 815 yards and seven touchdowns, in leading Washington to the playoffs. Injuries have limited him to just 22 games in the past three seasons, however, and he threw 18 interceptions and was only 5-15 as a starter.
In 37 career games with Washington, Griffin completed 63.9 percent of his passes for 8.097 yards, 40 touchdowns, 23 interceptions and took 101 sacks.
If the Browns do work out a deal with Griffin it will fuel speculation that the team will trade or release quarterback Josh McCown (not necessarily a good idea) and will pass on drafting a quarterback with the No. 2 overall selection in the 2016 NFL Draft (possible, but also not necessarily a good idea).
With the NFL’s annual meeting wrapping up today in Florida, we may know in the next few days if the Griffin question will finally be answered.