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DonRocks

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I don't care what people say about Robert Griffin III being a "bust" - he was a *great* athlete and college football player, whose career was basically ended because he wasn't properly trained to play in the NFL, and because he was left in a game when he was so badly injured that he could barely walk.

When I first saw Griffin's highlight video coming out of Baylor, I could not believe the things I was seeing: plays such as Griffin running to his left, then stopping on a dime and throwing a 50-yard laser cross-field to a receiver sprinting down the *right* sideline for a touchdown.

During his rookie season with the Redskins, even his detractors grudgingly came around to admitting that this kid was phenomenal, and two-thirds of the way through the season, there wasn't merely unanimous accord about him being the  Rookie of the Year, but also serious talk about him being the NFL MVP.

Yet, there was that college-style game he was playing - the equivalent of storming the enemy without wearing a bullet-proof vest, and the Redskins were doing nothing to help him transition from a college-style game to become more of an NFL pocket passer, because he was taking them to the playoffs and they were thinking short-term. Griffin's career-ending injury occurred when he was left in the game with an injury so obviously severe that everyone could see it - the announcers were incredulous - and the next play would essentially be his final one in the NFL. 

A superstar done in by being rushed along and not coached into becoming an NFL player who could survive in the long-term. Maybe so, but he'll always have *my* respect, and I hope he has a lifetime of happiness with his millions of dollars, even though he'll never have the Hall of Fame career which was his for the taking. 

And it's absolutely *not* his fault - he was a *kid* who only knew one speed: overdrive, and it was the coaches' job to reign him in, to develop him, and to protect him. Look at what the Nationals did in 2012 when they had the best record in the National League, and Stephen Strasburg hit his (arbitrary) "maximum pitch count" before the season was over - why didn't they bench Strasburg *before* he hit that pitch count so that they could use him in the playoffs? I have never heard a satisfactory explanation to this confounding decision when Strasburg was showing *no* signs of physical problems. Whatever their rationale, they chose not to save Strasburg even when it was obvious they'd make the playoffs without him, and then they lost to the Cardinals in the National League Division Series, 3 games to 2. Would Strasburg have made a difference in a five-game series? What the hell do you think? If the Redskins had given Griffin one-tenth of the protection that the Nationals gave Strasburg, we might have a superstar quarterback leading us to the playoffs right now, year after year; instead, we have someone who was made into a scapegoat for the Redskins' stupidity, and is wrongly and unfairly called "one of the biggest busts in NFL draft history."

RG3: World-class athlete, Hall of Fame potential, the definition of class when he was forced to go an entire season without taking a single snap, and no more of a bust than Bo Jackson.

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On 10/30/2017 at 8:28 PM, DonRocks said:

I don't like people saying RGIII was a bust - he was the toast of the NFL, and was *made* into a bust by his coaches and managers.

"Deshaun Watson Could Have the Kind of Career that RGIII Should Have Had" by Tanya Ray Fox on touchdownwire.usatoday.com

This is why it makes me angry that everyone dismisses RGIII as a "bust." Griffin was the NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year - now, it's possible that Watson may never even get that far. Does this mean Watson is a "bust?" Hell. No. It means he got hurt.

"Texans' QB Deshaun Watson Out for Year with Torn ACL, per Report" on usatoday.com

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9 minutes ago, Ericandblueboy said:

He’s a bust.  The redskins gave up 2 first round picks for him. He busted himself by refusing to play the system that gave him a chance in the nfl.

He was never taught to play it, and he was played injured when he never should have been.

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7 minutes ago, DonRocks said:

He was never taught to play it, and he was played injured when he never should have been.

He’s been given every opportunity and he still can’t read defenses - that’s why he flopped.  He had a great rookie season partly because he played in a new scheme that other teams didn’t yet know how to defend against.  You can believe what you want but he was not a successful nfl qb.

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3 hours ago, Ericandblueboy said:

He’s been given every opportunity and he still can’t read defenses - that’s why he flopped.  He had a great rookie season partly because he played in a new scheme that other teams didn’t yet know how to defend against.  You can believe what you want but he was not a successful nfl qb.

He was never coached to be one, was never taught to slide, and was played when he was so badly injured that he couldn't even walk - the announcers were talking about it before it even happened. From the Seattle game-forward, his physical abilities were never the same.

"A Comprehensive History of How Washington Ruined Robert Griffin III's Mind, Body, and Spirit" by Rodger Sherman on sbnation.com

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This back and forth raises a good question.  A team drafts what looks like a great young player out of college whose success was as much about his legs as his arm (if not more).  Everyone knows that the style of play that made him a great college player for 2-4 years cannot be sustained when playing against defensive linemen who are bigger and better than the competition in college.  Hell, I'm not sure it can be sustained thru another 4 years of college ball.  So... doesn't the player and the team's front office both recognize this?  Is the team ok with "spending" as much as they did for a 2 year throw away product?  Are they supposed to not get as much as they can in as short a period of time as they can, including playing him injured, when they know that his half-life in the pros can't be more than 3 years given the type of player he is?  Is the player not able to see the train(s) coming & force adjustments upon himself and, to the extent he can, to his team?

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On 11/3/2017 at 10:50 AM, Steve R. said:

This back and forth raises a good question.  A team drafts what looks like a great young player out of college whose success was as much about his legs as his arm (if not more).  Everyone knows that the style of play that made him a great college player for 2-4 years cannot be sustained when playing against defensive linemen who are bigger and better than the competition in college.  Hell, I'm not sure it can be sustained thru another 4 years of college ball.  So... doesn't the player and the team's front office both recognize this?  Is the team ok with "spending" as much as they did for a 2 year throw away product?  Are they supposed to not get as much as they can in as short a period of time as they can, including playing him injured, when they know that his half-life in the pros can't be more than 3 years given the type of player he is?  Is the player not able to see the train(s) coming & force adjustments upon himself and, to the extent he can, to his team?

I predict that the "pocket-passer" mentality of the NFL is in the process of changing, and they simply haven't figured out how to do it yet. DeShaun Watson looked like the prototype quarterback of the next decade (and may well be), but he tore his ACL in a *non-contact* incident during practice! Still, Russell Wilson is a good example of this; RGIII was an early prototype that failed -  Randall Cunningham earlier still.

Don't forget, RGIII tore his ACL when he was at Baylor - that weakened his knee coming into the NFL. Watson will have this problem for the rest of his life, I'm afraid.

The logistics of figuring out how to protect a dual-threat quarterback from monster-linebackers haven't been figured out yet, but the days of the pocket-passing quarterback are numbered - the game is changing, and going to a spread offense, just as the NBA has changed, and is now more geared to small-ball.

I think the answer lies in changing the rules of the game. Changing them how? I have no idea, but people are getting mauled out there. I also think the NFL is going to need to pay dual-threat quarterbacks a *lot* of money, because as you said up above, the actuarial tables for their careers are going to be very limited.

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Seeing what happened to Kristaps Porzingis, and also what happened last year to Deshaun Watson, makes me double-down on my defense of RGIII. I get so *angry* at people who call him "a bust."  

Kwame Brown was a bust; RGIII was felled by injuries, the most egregious of which were management's fault. 

Sep 1, 2015 - "A Comprehensive History of How Washington Ruined Robert Griffin III's Body, Mind, and Spirit" by Rodger Sherman on sbnation.com

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On 11/3/2017 at 10:50 AM, Steve R. said:

This back and forth raises a good question.  A team drafts what looks like a great young player out of college whose success was as much about his legs as his arm (if not more).  Everyone knows that the style of play that made him a great college player for 2-4 years cannot be sustained when playing against defensive linemen who are bigger and better than the competition in college.  Hell, I'm not sure it can be sustained thru another 4 years of college ball.  So... doesn't the player and the team's front office both recognize this?  Is the team ok with "spending" as much as they did for a 2 year throw away product?  Are they supposed to not get as much as they can in as short a period of time as they can, including playing him injured, when they know that his half-life in the pros can't be more than 3 years given the type of player he is?  Is the player not able to see the train(s) coming & force adjustments upon himself and, to the extent he can, to his team?

Think about this: If Griffin had stayed healthy, the Redskins would quite possibly still have Kirk Cousins, because he'd never have had the chance to prove how damned good he is - he would have been the best second-string quarterback in the league. Cousins turned out to be a brilliant draft pick.

Some other things people don't remember about Griffin:

* He broke the Texas HS records in both the 110-meter and 300-meter hurdles.
* His 300-meter hurdles time in HS was 1/100th of a second short of tying the national high school record.
* His 400-meter hurdles time in HS was the #1 junior time in the world in 2007.
* He was class HS President, and finished #7 in his class in academics.

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He has another shot this upcoming season--this time with the Ravens up the road.  He signed as the reserve qb.

As the article describes a lot of qb's signed with different teams before this occurred.  Its simply one more shot for him--another opportunity to see if he can make it in the NFL.

Meanwhile from a strictly competitive perspective its amazing that Kaepernick has not been signed.  Politics has reared its ugly head with regard to this fellow.

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