After what can only be described as another year of disappointment for Robert Griffin III, the Cleveland Browns quarterback still feels he’s done enough to defy those who doubted him.
He also made it clear on Monday that he wasn’t blind to the fact that most people have already written him off.
“I’m not an idiot,” Griffin said Monday after the Browns finished the season 1-15 (h/t Marla Ridenour of Ohio.com). “I know a lot of people were writing me off as a player, as a quarterback, saying I couldn’t do it. And to go out and show that I can, I think that proves a lot of people wrong.
“But at the end of the [day] I want to win games. Right now I’m here with the Cleveland Browns and I love these guys in this locker room. I want to help them win here. And if I don’t get that opportunity, then that’s out of my control, I’ve done everything that I can to this point with the cards I was dealt to try to put the best foot forward and let the chips fall where they may.”
It’s debatable that Griffin III did enough to show he is actually capable of living up to the franchise quarterback label. To be quite honest, that’s a tough sell.
First off, he was injured to the point of needing the IR for most of the year, which must be a heavily weighed factor. To this point in his career, RG3 has played through exactly zero full seasons as a starter. He’s missed games in each of his five seasons, though the 2015 season was a wash because he was healthy, in street clothes on the sideline in Washington. Still, injury prone isn’t a label he’ll shake easily.
Secondly, Griffin III wasn’t exactly a shining example of stellar quarterback play when he did line up behind center for the Browns this year. Completing just over 59 percent of his passes, Griffin III averaged 177 passing yards per game and just six yards per attempt while throwing two touchdowns and three interceptions in five games.
The Browns have to decide if Griffin’s worth keeping on as a potential quarterback of the future of it he’s just dead weight, as he’s due a $750,000 roster bonus if still on the roster when the new NFL year begins on March 11. With the first overall pick of the 2017 NFL Draft, that’s a decision that will no doubt consume the organization for many a long hour and sleepless night.