There are two things we know about Robert Griffin III, he has a bad knee and he will never wear mustard pants again. His days of slinging passes for the Washington Redskins are finished. Now although his past few seasons were a disappointment, he is a playoff-experienced quarterback and he has led a team to a division title.
RG3 was an absolute phenom out of Baylor and in his first season with the Skins. He was the breakout prototype for the turn of the quarterback. [sc:NFL250 ]He was as quick as a running back, as crafty and slender as a wide receiver and could throw the ball a mile. He was the early days of Michael Vick in Atlanta revived (pre-dog fighting of course).
If your starting quarterback gets you to the playoffs and helps lock up a division title, you’d have to think he’d keep his job. However, if he throws three picks and gives up five total turnovers in that playoff game and gets shut out, he’s probably expendable. That’s the situation in Houston. Brian Hoyer is definitely not a fan favorite and he’s had trouble all year keeping the ball in his teammates hands.
Robert Griffin III would fit here for a number of reasons. First of which, his ability to escape the pocket. Houston’s offensive line is like swiss cheese and full of holes. A great stat for this is the lack of rushing yards produced by the team following Arian Foster’s injury. Alfred Blue and Chris Polk were below-average at best as fill-ins week in and week out. The Texans need a quarterback that can escape the rush and can even rush himself. With Arian Foster starting to age and missing action due to injuries more often than not, it may be time to look for wheels elsewhere.
Secondly, the Texans are starting to turn into a constant playoff contender. They can’t afford to keep going through temporary quarterbacks every year. They need someone that will stick. Robert Griffin III is still a young QB with a lot left in the tank. He also went to high school and college just three hours outside of Houston.
From Tony Romo to Matt Cassel, to Brandon Weeden to Kellen Moore – it’s not working in Dallas. The good news for the Cowboys is that Tony Romo will be healthy next season. Their starting quarterback is entering the fourth year of his six-year $108 million dollar deal and is primed to take the team to the next level. However, at the age of 35, Romo’s best days are behind him. So while he looked pretty solid early on this past season, he’ll be a make or break player the rest of his career given his age and injury past.
Enter Robert Griffin III. A guy that can find receivers and can gel with a team that’s had some bumps in the road. Dez Bryant may not be the easiest guy to play with, but if you can find chemistry with DeSean Jackson, you should be ready for the next big test and that would definitely be Dez.
Now although the Cowboys likely think they’re just a player or two away, that’s not the case. They need a running back and they need wide outs to surround Dez Bryant with. Soon they’ll also need a tight end with Jason Witten turning 34 in May. Should the Cowboys take a run at Griffin, he’ll likely ride the pine for a year or two, but as they showed this year – you can never have too many backup quarterbacks. Getting an actual quality backup would be a nice change for Dallas too.
The no brainer here is that we all know the Cleveland Browns will have a different quarterback next season. While Josh McCown had a nice little run with the team, he’s not the guy to take them to the promise land. While he is still a candidate though, a guy that’s not even in the discussion any more is Johnny Manziel. He, without a shadow of a doubt, has closed the door on a return to the Browns following his regular season and post-regular season actions.
Manziel missed mandatory meetings, he drank during bye weeks and right out of rehab, he lied to his coaches and management, he partied in Vegas before the team’s final game. His time in Cleveland is done and nobody would be surprised if his time in the NFL is over too. If Tim Tebow can’t find a job and he does everything right, how could a guy that does everything wrong still find work? I mean Tebow had a playoff appearance and win too!
I’m getting off track here, let’s talk Robert Griffin III. Similar to the Texans, the Browns have no run game and a brutal o-line as well. A guy that can scramble is a huge asset. Griffin is one of the best at buying himself some time and that’s one thing Cleveland needs in a bad way. At the moment, their search for wide outs continues. Their receiving core is running on empty, so they need a guy that can get yards himself without their help. RG3 is that guy. At +500, the Browns could be one of the best bets.
Who loves spending money on big names and watching them flop? The Miami Dolphins!
With a new head coach in the mix, the Dolphins will be ready for another season of throwing big players against the wall and seeing who sticks. Former head coach Joe Philbin was kicked out of the tank before mid-season due to a losing record and (allegedly) the suggestion that Ryan Tannehill was not the quarterback of the future. In fact, Philbin wanted Tannehill out of Miami just two years after he was drafted. This did not sit well with the owners. The same owners that just gave Tannehill $77 million over four years and Ndamukong Suh $114 million over six. They love to spend money and if you don’t like their investments, you’re out of their circle of trust.
Given the 6-10 finish to the Dolphins 2015 campaign though, it’s not a shocker that Miami could be a destination of choice. If RG3 didn’t get the job as the starter, the former Rookie of the Year could at least give Tannehill some competition – something that he’s never really needed to worry about in Miami.
Florida would definitely be a long shot. We know that they Fish love to burn money though and there’s no better way to do that than to grab a guy that will cost you $16.1 million dollars in his final contract year.
