1. He’s a smooth guy who clearly understands his fan base. When he was asked what it felt like to finally be drafted, Robert Griffin III started singing, “Hail to the Redskins! Hail victory!” The fact that he did not know the rest of the words — he said at the end of the interview that he had to learn the rest — was no big deal. He’s the rare guy who can make men and women swoon. And when Griffin talked about his two three-hour meetings with Kyle Shanahan, he made sure to point out he wasn’t a one-man show, then rattled off the names of his receivers. “It’s not just about me,” he said.
2. Griffin was helped working with Terry Shea in the offseason. He said they worked on “connecting my drops to the type of throws I’ll make at the next level.” They cleaned up his footwork, too. The first place Mike Shanahan will look when watching a QB’s mechanics his his feet. Good footwork usually equals accurate passers. “I’m a fast learner so it was easy for me to get around and wrap my mind around what [Shea] was trying to do with me,” Griffin said. “As a quarterback you have to work within the system. When it comes to footwork, you practice to make sure it’s right and then if you have to make a throw out of an awkward position you can make it. You don’t practice throws out of awkward positions. You practice doing it right.”
3. I liked this quote too: “I’ve seen the many quarterbacks that they’ve gone through,” Griffin said. “I’m glad the organization and the coaching staff bought into drafting a younger quarterback, trying to make him the franchise quarterback and growing with him.” Again, there’s a mature awareness about him unlike any player they’ve drafted in a long time. Not many have a sense of an organization before they arrive. I think guys like Jon Jansen, Chris Samuels and LaVar Arrington did. So, too, does Griffin. Yes, he has known for a while where he was going to go so he could study up. But he still knows more than most would in his position. His excitement is obvious.
4. Griffin knows what to expect from defenses: “A lot of teams will say blitz him, make him try to run and hit him, beat him up. I welcome that. They’re trying to do something to shut me down, which is what they’re supposed to do. My job is to find holes in the defense.”
5. Both Griffin and Shanahan mention the supporting cast and they’re right; he can’t do it alone. But make no mistake: You don’t make this sort of trade and then put it back on the supporting cast. If Griffin is as special as they believe, he’ll be able to make those around him better. I get what they’re saying; if the defense isn’t good then Griffin can only do so much. But I also know that players such as Griffin lift an organization with their presence. A month or so ago a coach with a team that had drafted a franchise-type QB in the last couple years was amazed at the difference this kid made in the mindset of the other players. “You could see it,” the coach said. That’s what Griffin can do here; just look at the tweets of other players and you can feel the excitement. It’ll build and the more they see what he can do on the field, the more it will build. And when guys think they have the right guy who can win? They tend to play differently. It just happens. It will take Griffin time, no doubt. Can he do what other rookie QBs have done? Sure, why not? Some of that depends on what is placed on his shoulders and that’s where the supporting cast enters this season. The less that he’s asked to do, the better off he’ll be, at least initially. However, if Griffin is the face of the franchise he’ll be the one to lift others up much more often than the opposite.
Plus 1. OK, an extra one. But in the umpteen years I’ve covered this team, I’ve never seen this sort of excitement over a player. Part of me wonders what will happen if Griffin doesn’t pan out — it does happen, you know. How deflating would that be? But here’s the thing: I don’t see that happening. Griffin fits very well with what Shanahan wants — from arm strength, to athleticism, to work ethic, to smarts. It’s hard to see him failing, it really is. There’s a lot riding on this kid’s success, from an organization to a coach to the kid himself. It’ll be fun to watch it unfold.
To subscribe to my weekly free email report, click here. This week: A hodge podge of info, with quotes from Ron Jaworski, Bill Polian, Charles Davis and Dan Shonka on RG3.
