Revenge of the Griffin

The Legend Begins 

Do you remember when Baylor was a bottom feeder? Do you remember when Baylor perennially dwelled at the bottom of the Big 12 south?   

Let's put it this way, the Big 12 was very good before Art Briles arrived. But the Late 90's to early 2000's was the time when Oklahoma, Texas, Nebraska, Colorado, and in some years Kansas State were firing on all cylinders. The big 12 south was considerably stronger from top to bottom, and Baylor was the red-headed step child trapped in that division.

Do you recall a time when for some reason or another you had to pack a small sedan with more than what the car could fit? Using tactics like scrunching up, or maybe a person laying across the lap of the three passengers smushed together in the backseat?

Count them up. Six people.

For two decades, Baylor was that kid; laying on the laps of people in the backseat. There was no room for them to flourish comfortably. There wasn't enough space for them to even be comfortable, and there certainly no margin for error.

I still spend time marveling and coming away absolutely clueless of how Art Briles performed such an ungodly turnaround from the floorboard, to toasting champagne in the VIP lounge. Before Art Briles arrived, Baylor finished last in the Big 12 south in thirteen of it's first fourteen years. It wasn't hard to figure out where it all started to change, though.

It was an Acronym.

R. G.III.

Let's put it this way, in a very long story short; the rollercoaster of a career for Robert Griffin III brought twists and turns that transformed to pain and anguish and then transformed once more to jubilance and ecstasy. Before he arrived on campus in 2009, the Bears hadn't had a winning season since 1993. In Griffin's first year they won four games, and in his second season he tore his ACL. In year three the Bears go bowling, and in his final season this beaming bright kid became the savior of a quarterback in Waco and even earned an induction into one of the finest fraternities in sports, he gave the bears their first victory over Oklahoma EVER. Not to mention a bowl victory. This was a HUGE deal in Waco five years ago, and still today.

Everybody grows old at some point and time.

After Peyton Manning missed the entire 2011-2012 season for the Colts, they failed to win more than two games and obtained the first pick with a 2-14 record. With that pick they had two options to be the successor of Manning.

Option one was Andrew Luck.

Touted the greatest prospect since Manning and Joe Montana before him, he was another quarterback that had taken a college program from the dust to cloud 9 by taking Stanford to new heights.

The latter, was Griffin. Highly praised for his athletic ability, leadership skills, high character, and even higher IQ, there was upside overflowing out of his pores. Following a spectacular season for the Baylor Bears in the lone star state, Griffin was 1B to Luck’s 1A. This is when Washington Redskins owner Dan Snyder proverbially broke football. Snyder was so enamored by the intangibles Griffin possessed he pulled the trigger and orchestrated one of the Biggest Draft Day deals of all time. The St. Louis Rams held the number two pick in the draft, however because they had selected Sam Bradford two years earlier the pick became expendable as he was to be the expected franchise quarterback. Washington sent over four draft picks, their first and second round picks from 2012, in addition to two consecutive first round picks from ‘13, and ’14. It is now accepted wisdom that Mike Shanahan head coach of the Redskins at that time was against making this trade as it mortgaged their future. So he then selected a quarterback of his own insecurity and turning into what is one of the biggest "Plan B successes" in recent memory. In the third round of the draft, Kirk Cousins was selected out of Michigan State. So basically, three FIRST round picks of high value stretched across three YEARS and spent their only two picks in the first three rounds on quarterbacks.

You can bet some people weren't happy about it.

Life goes on.

The season begins after an eternity, or better said, four and a half months filled of speculation and hype. Washington's division rival New York Giants are the defending Super Bowl champions and it was clear Snyder intended on making a big splash, which he did, and across the league there are five rookie starting quarterbacks on thirty-two rosters.

Flashback.

Brandon Weeden was asked to be the messiah in Brown town, Russell Wilson had absolutely no idea what he was getting himself into (in a good way), Ryan Tannehill was brought to Miami for a hopeful match made in heaven with his former college coach calling the offensive shots, and Andrew Luck kept up his end of the bargain immediately and turned his rookie season into a playoff berth. Robert Griffin III returned serve and like his top five echelon counterpart, Luck became a smash hit across the league impressing the league with his impressive poise in the pocket as well as his ability to extend the play past the line of scrimmage with his legs.

RG3 became a household name and dominated jersey sales almost at the snap of a finger. A young kid's dream was becoming a reality. The team was 10-6, playoff bound, but most importantly it was putting butts in the seats. The endorsements were piling in, and it seemed as though the shining image of RG3 was being painted on Da Vinci’s best day of his life. He was the leagues most polarizing player since Michael Vick in the (pre-dogfight days). The stat sheet was being filled, as Griffin posted an impressive line of over 3200 yards passing along with a TD:INT of 4:1 with a 20 to 5 line.

He was not shy to run the ball either rushing for more than 800 yards and 7 touchdowns with a record run of 76 yards. The combination of Alfred Morris and RG3 was a literal home run just minutes away from RFK.

With Griffin leading the Redskins to a playoff berth and taking the role of the leagues media darling, what could possibly go wrong might one ask?

For starters, Injuries.

Unfortunately, this is the double edged sword that is the NFL. As in recent years this policy might be more apparent in the coaching profession, but the Quarterback position has always been known as a one year revolving door in cities that don't succeed at that position. Anything can dethrone a starter. One injury can present to be the downfall of any player’s career and begin the meteoric rise of another. Eventual Super Bowl champions Baltimore Ravens are leading the Skins’ by eight as griffin attempts to take the game into his own hands…on a dive attempt a brilliant tackle is made by Ravens DT Heloti Ngata and Griffin’s Knee awkwardly bends in a cringe-worthy Manor. The MRI revealed a mild LCL sprain and he missed week 15 but returned for action in week 16.

Whew. That was close. Just a sprain. He'll be fine.

Thanks to being kings of the NFC East, the Skins were entering Wildcard weekend preparing to host another rookie led team in the Seattle Seahawks at home with Griffin wearing a hunky brace on his right leg. His his mobility was notably hindered, and he was also seemingly just constantly on the wrong end of an Oklahoma drill as the Seattle defense relentlessly went after Griffin. After a few nasty hits, many questioned if he should re-enter the game.

But this is FOOTBALL, right? He'll be fine, right? We're American’s. This is our sport. This is a man's game. This is a man's sport. He'll be fine. Put him in, coach. What's the worst that could happen?

Well, the beginning of the end. That's not the worst that could happen, but it sure is close.

Ultimately, the blame falls upon Mike Shanahan because he as a coach should have thought long term.

Now think about this:

Press pause.

Now press rewind.

Okay stop it right there. 

2012 NFL draft.

Your General Manager just spent THREE first overall team draft picks for this guy. The Washington Redskins sat in the draft room and laughed uncontrollably in a maniacal manner, knowing they had "their guy". It was a foregone conclusion Griffin or Luck was going to be the guy there and they would give absolutely anything up to get it. I play these fantasy conversations between Shanahan and Snyder over a casual BBM and sounding a little bit like this:

"Hey Mike sorry to bother you in the middle of your massage from the random Asian guy at the mall, but I just traded four draft picks including thee first rounders’ to ensure we get Luck or Griffin in next month. Now before you say anything, you're welcome! I know, I know I’m a genius. Those idiots originally only wanted the three first rounders’ so I threw in another pick just because I felt bad LOL go skins!!!!!!"

Lol is right. Laugh out loud. At the redskins.

With those draft picks the St. Louis Rams while doing a little bit of tweaking with the position of the draft picks, ended up with players like Janoris Jenkins, Alec Ogletree, Stedman Bailey, and Greg Robinson.

At times, and when fully healthy, all four of these players have shown tremendous upside and a couple, Jenkins and Steadman in particular, could even constantly be considered as cornerstones.

Okay you can fast forward back to the 2013 Wildcard weekend again.

Now, any super-competitive athlete shot up with pain medication is capable of playing past the pain and convincing themselves that they are okay even when they may not be. Yes, this is undoubtedly selfish on the athlete's part but as previously stated in a lack for better words, MERICA. It is still football. These are still our iron men, and this is the PLAYOFFS. RG3 simply looked at Shanahan and the inner kid inside him said "nah fam I’m good"

Griffin handles a bad snap and as he attempts to regain possession, and the nightmare happens in real life. His knee twists backwards awkwardly almost as easy as a pool noodle would, and with one motionless, treacherous, hopeless, motion....

Down goes Griffin.

It didn't look good either. It was like one moment he was himself, then the next moment he was someone else. The man's world just stopped in an instant that probably to him felt like an eternity. In one synchronized, yet fateful moment in RG3's budding career, it appeared to me as a fifteen-year-old kid that someone went to the Beyond section in Bed Bath and Beyond, found the remote from the Adam Sandler movie Click (which we used whimsically a couple times in this article) and that someone who found the remote felt like straight up pointing the remote at Griffin and pressing pause the nanosecond his knee snapped. His body somewhat depicted the motion of a robot getting the main battery unplugged from the motherboard. The movement and life in his body is there one second, and then.....

Pause.

Griffin does not move, as he helplessly has just realized in that instant his left knee had snapped. Griffin does not stand up afterwards, Griffin's team does not win the game, and Griffin does not come back from this injury. The young rookie with Blake Griffin sized-dreams, turned into the klutz with Peter Griffin clumsiness.

Griffin rehabbed and returned the next season, to the tune of which some conspiracy theorists argued that it was due to Mike Shanahan's favoritism of Kirk Cousins, who was not in any means a perfect player in his own right. What is clear is that Griffin returned way too early, and it ultimately cost him his job. As Jay Gruden was given the reigns to the top of the coaching totem pole in Landover, Kirk Cousins was chosen to lead the charge. Leaving Griffin buried in the depth charts, thus, effective immediately, ending the short-lived and even longer-dreaded Griffin era.

With an article entitled the The Revenge of Griffin many wonder what hell I’m getting at.

Understand this, following the cryptic messages at RG3’s locker after the Skins lost at the hands of the bad man Aaron Rodgers and his Green Bay Packers, he declined to talk to media and it is widely assumed he will be released by the team in the coming offseason. With the Quarterback position being such a revolving door in todays NFL, there are several teams that may be interested in his services. To name a few, the Eagles, Chiefs, 49ers, Cowboys, The Los Angeles Rams....

Pause again.

Wait, something sounds familiar here.

Who did the Redskins trade all those picks to?

The irony is so beautiful in this league sometimes.

Yes, it’s the newly angelic Los Angeles Rams.

Don't let the name fool you, these are the same rams who gave up the number two overall pick in exchange for four Washington draft picks. Four players went to battle for the fighting Stan Kroenke's and all four players drafted as a result of the blockbuster deal have had at least one season on their respective resume's in which they started in all sixteen games.

Pause again!

Now let's fast forward.

How menacing does a backfield boasting a healthy Griffin and starlet Todd Gurley appear to be? Factor in the dynamic deep threat that is Tavon Austin, and add another weapon out wide in this draft and this team will seem to be nearly set on offense. All they need is consistency at quarterback and I have a feeling there's a painful, agonizing feeling in Griffin's stomach that will never settle until he fills what he came in the league to do. Let's not forget as well the Rams have a stout defensive front to compliment the offense. This team could very quickly flourish in the big media market and Stan Kroenke will be a genius if he can get Griffin to join his team in the City of Angels. Additionally, how satisfying would it be for Griffin to play and succeed in the NFC with the chance to matchup with his former team that turned their backs on him, and the backup that turned into the man behind his unseating at the helm in Washington. This team could easily carry the moniker of “The Team That Snyder Built.” Griffin will finally have the chance to be one hundred percent healthy again and with a team wiling to adapt in order to compliment his playing style. Griffins revenge is coming boys and girls,

And will it be spectacular indeed. 

Enter Griffin. Watch out Chip, Watch out Bruce, Watch out Mr. Carroll.

By, Davidson Baker & Elijah Milligan

The Salary Cap