ESPN NFL Insider Mike Sando recently released his rankings for all 32 starting quarterbacks in the NFL. These rankings were put together based on a voting panel of 35 league insiders (coaches, evaluators, GMs, etc.) that split the 32 quarterbacks into tiers (one through four). Unfortunately for the Washington Redskins, Robert Griffin III fell into tier four as the No. 28 QB in the league.
One voter even went so far as to put RGIII into an even lower tier.
"Five, and there's no coming back," an offensive coach told Sando. "He is done. The reason why is, the injury slowed his legs, and his ego will not allow him to hit rock bottom and actually grind his way back up the right way."
It seems that view was shared by several of the rankings participants.
"To get better in this league, you have to have a degree of humility," a personnel director said. "Griffin sees himself like Peyton [Manning], in that light. When he looks in the mirror, he is seeing things that everybody else is not seeing. That is why I was surprised when they gave him the fifth-year [option] and said it was an easy decision."
Despite the mostly negative reviews, Griffin did receive some optimistic projections from some voters.
"I know how hard it is for a quarterback to go into a system for the first time," one general manager said. "I go back to Brett Favre. He was a 1, but he goes to the Jets and he was probably a 2 or a 3. Then he went to a familiar system in Minnesota and was a 1 again. With Griffin, I'm taking into account the new offense, the new personality at head coach, coming off an injury. He showed his rookie year that he could be a 1. He is a young guy. I'm going to give him the benefit because of that."
Griffin played in just nine games last year due to a dislocated ankle suffered in Week 2 (his third major leg injury since college). In that time, he completed 68.7 percent of his passes while throwing for 1,694 yards with four touchdowns and six interceptions. He also ran 38 times for 176 yards (4.6 YPC) and one score.
Anyone who watched Griffin consistently last season saw an apprehensive quarterback with inconsistent mechanics. Some of that has to do with poor offensive line play up front (Washington ranked 31st in the NFL in sacks allowed with 58), but Griffin also held the ball far too long. Overall, he has a long way to go to regain the magic of his rookie season. Whether or not he can do it will determine his future with the Redskins.
