Lang on Griffin III: Is he worth it?
Posted March 12, 2012 12:57 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
The Trade that rocked the NFL draft.
Realizing that they had next to no hope of landing Peyton Manning, the Washington Redskins decided to make a dramatic change of course in their search for a franchise quarterback.
In a bold pre-emptive strike, the Redskins traded their first (sixth overall) and second-round pick this year, and their first-round picks in 2013 and 2014 to the Rams in exchange for the second overall pick this year.
With the assumption that the Colts will select Stanford’s Andrew Luck with the first pick overall, the Redskins will be able to grab Baylor’s dynamic quarterback Robert Griffin III with the second pick in the draft.
The similarities between Luck and Griffin III are startling. Both are well spoken young men with sterling academic credentials and a thirst to be great. But while both young quarterbacks are great athletes, Griffin III has the advantage in raw running speed. At the recent NFL combine in Indianapolis he was unofficially clocked running the 40-yard dash in a surreal time of 4.38 seconds. Even when his time was adjusted to an official 4.41, Griffin III still ended up running the third fastest time of any athlete in the entire combine, and that includes wide receivers, running backs and defensive backs.
The question being asked across the NFL is did the Redskins pay too steep of a price to get Griffin III? That’s a difficult question to answer at the moment. If Griffin III turns out to be the franchise quarterback that Mike Shanahan and the Redskins expect him to be and he leads the franchise back to playoff glory; then it was well worth the price.
Former Redskins great Joe Theismann was a guest on Brady and Lang on Sportsnet 590 The Fan and mentioned in the 80 year history of the franchise, he is second all-time in consecutive starts by a quarterback behind only Sammy Baugh. Between December 7 1980 and November 18 1985, Theismann started 71 consecutive games for the Redskins. As he said, it is amazing that 27 seasons later no other quarterback has surpassed him.
It isn’t really all that amazing when you look at the number of quarterbacks the Redskins have trotted out there since Theismann retired. Everyone from Jeff George, Heath Shuler, Gus Ferotte and Patrick Ramsey have all been named the Redskins starting quarterback with predictable results.
The Redskins have been waiting a long time to find a quarterback to lead their franchise. Robert Griffin III is a player that both on and off the field the Redskins can build around for years to come. So in that sense, the price they paid to move up in the draft was more than worth it.
What can’t be known in all of this is what the Rams are going to do with their bounty of draft picks at their disposal over the next three years.
Jeff Fisher and the Rams know they need to surround Sam Bradford with better weapons on offense. That means loading up at wide receiver and beefing up an offensive line that was ranked dead last in the NFL after allowing a whopping 55 sacks. As it stands now, the Rams will have three selections (sixth, 33rd and 39th) in the first 40 picks of this year’s draft.
Much like the Rams, the Redskins need better talent at wide receiver if they’re going to give Griffin III a chance to succeed in his rookie year. This means general manager Bruce Allen and Shanahan will need to be active in free agency to improve the Redskins level of talent on offense.
But armed with the knowledge that Griffin III is on the way, at least Shanahan and Allen can draft and sign players what will compliment his skill set.
In the end, this is a rare trade where both franchises come out a winner. The Redskins will get their franchise quarterback that they’ve been desperately searching for nearly three decades. The Rams on the other hand will be able to rebuild the talent base of their team with all the draft picks they received in the deal.
All of this and Peyton Manning still hasn’t decided what team he wants to sign with.
