Washington Redskins head coach Jay Gruden announced earlier this week that Colt McCoy would start ahead of Robert Griffin III this weekend against the Indianapolis Colts. But that doesn't mean RGIII will be riding the bench for good.
"Griffin's absence from the starting lineup could be as short as one week, and it could last until the start of next season," wrote Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk. "Either way, the plan is to try to get Griffin back to being the player he was in 2012, when he took the league by storm (and kept defenses off balance) with a perfect mixture of accurate passing and explosive running ability."
Griffin's career has been a perfect storm of unfortunate circumstances. The Redskins were hit with a $36 million salary cap penalty, severely limiting the team's ability to add talent around Griffin after surrendering three first-round picks and a second-round pick for the right to draft him.
Griffin then tore his ACL at the end of his rookie season and dislocated his ankle in Week 2 of this year. While his mechanics and decision-making haven't always been great, the franchise seems to see his stunted development as more understandable in the face of all the adversity he has met.
"Despite the current feeding frenzy fueled by common sense and conventional wisdom that Griffin will be among the former members of the team by next season, the plan really is to keep him around," Florio wrote. "Surprisingly, that doesn't seem to be a ploy to salvage his trade value."
