Washington’s decision to bench Robert Griffin III came down to a couple of key points, according to a report, neither of which was concussion-related.
This report comes by way of Liz Clarke of the Washington Post. In it, she details how general manager Scot McCloughan, owner Daniel Snyder, President Bruce Allen and head coach Jay Gruden came to an accord regarding the decision to start Kirk Cousins over RG3, according to someone close to the deliberations.
“Cousins gave the Redskins a better chance to win in 2015 than Griffin, whose struggles in Gruden’s timing-based offense were increasingly evident.
“And Gruden risked losing credibility with the team if he continued to preach competition and award starting jobs to the victors at every position except quarterback.”
This story is much more believable than anything we’ve heard or seen coming out of Washington since an independent neurologist’s out-of-the-blue decision to pull Griffin from the lineup before Week 3 of the preseason.
And, if the report is indeed true, then perhaps there is actually hope for change in Washington.
No doubt, Gruden would have lost credibility with the team had he continued to let Griffin flail away at trying to run his offense. When the quarterback did actually have time to throw, it was evident he didn’t have a grasp on Gruden’s timing-based offense, as the report suggests.
Whether because the embattled quarterback is too shell-shocked at this point in his career to run the offense efficiently or because he just doesn’t understand the scheme, RG3 isn’t the best option for Washington, and everybody knows it.