Cleveland Browns: Loss of Robert Griffin III May Help Develop Young Players

The Cleveland Browns hoped Robert Griffin III could be the quarterback for the future, but his injury may actually help other young players in their development.

Anyone who watched the early career of quarterback Robert Griffin III could have guessed that a significant injury was likely to come during his first year with the Cleveland Browns. The former Baylor star plays a mobile style of football and rarely seems interested in avoiding contact on the field.

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Few, though, could have guessed that Griffin wouldn’t even make it out of the season-opener intact.

A big hit in Sunday’s Week 1 game against the Philadelphia Eagles appeared to rattle Griffin. However, he toughed it out and finished the game. Unfortunately, that hit caused a broken bone in his non-throwing shoulder. Subsequently, the Browns were forced to place him on injured reserve on Monday, according to Albert Breer of the MMQB.

This is an obvious setback for the Browns, who weren’t simply looking at Griffin as a temporary measure.

“To be fair to Robert, he’s young in his career in terms of his development as a quarterback,” Browns executive Sashi Brown said of Griffin shortly before the start of the season, per Mary Kay Cabot of Cleveland.com. “We will develop him over time. He’s under contract here two years, but we don’t look at it as certainly just a two-year venture or a week-to-week venture.”

Griffin is in Cleveland on a two-year deal. So if the team views him as more than a two-year option, they must view him as a potential piece of the future. Thanks to Sunday’s injury, Griffin is no longer a part of the plan—for the next eight games, at a minimum.

If we’re looking for a silver lining in Griffin’s injury, we might just find it in his replacement. With Griffin on the sideline, Cleveland’s starter becomes journeyman signal-caller Josh McCown.

Now, McCown clearly isn’t going to be the future for the Browns either. He is 37 years old and has his own struggles in the health department. As a passer, though, he is light years ahead of Griffin. This means that Cleveland’s young and developing offensive talent—like rookie wideout Corey Coleman and project receiver Terrelle Pryor—get to work with a real honest-to-goodness quarterback for the next half season (assuming McCown stays healthy).

McCown isn’t an elite passer or anything—if he were, he’d be an established starter. But in the realm of the expansion-era Browns, he’s royalty.

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In eight games last season, McCown completed 63.7 percent of his passes for 2,109 yards with 12 touchdowns and four interceptions. He held a passer rating of 93. 3. Heck, he even set a franchise single-game record last season with a 457-yard performance against the Baltimore Ravens.

Unlike Griffin, McCown knows how to play quarterback in the NFL. It’s telling that a point of emphasis for the Browns this offseason was teaching Griffin how to work through progressions, read the defense pre-snap and even slide. Griffin is still learning how to be a pro quarterback, which is an issue for Cleveland’s developing young players.

The Browns have a number of young, inexperienced guys on offense who are expected to be a big part of the team’s future. Cleveland drafted four wide receivers this year—including Coleman—and are still guiding the development of players like Pryor and second-year running back Duke Johnson. There’s also Josh Gordon, who is expected to return from suspension to the lineup in Week 5. He hasn’t played in a meaningful game for over a year and needs to get his legs and his confidence back under him.

Preparing all of these young players for the future becomes that much more difficult if head coach Hue Jackson is also teaching the guy under center to be a quarterback. How far away is Griffin? Just consider the fact Pro Football Focus rated him 47th overall among all quarterbacks this past week.

Sure, Griffin throws a pretty deep ball. That’s great if you want to teach your receivers to run in a straight line and go up for it. If you want your young pass-catchers to develop the nuances of NFL receivers, though, McCown is your better option.

Just look at rookie first-rounder Coleman, for example. He comes from a very simple Baylor passing system.

“He’s a dynamic playmaker. Think Percy Harvin, that’s the kind of playmaker that he is,” draft analyst Mike Mayock said of Coleman after the draft, via NFL.com. “He has a quick start and explosive speed. The only key for him is that he hasn’t run a route tree”

Do the Browns really want a player who is good in open space, but doesn’t understand a full route tree? If not, then they need to mentor him in a pro-style offense. McCown is a quarterback who can help facilitate that.

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All of this is important because the 2016 season isn’t about wins and losses for the Browns. This season is about developing players who will be around when wins and losses do matter. Griffin may or may not be a part of that group. But guys like Coleman, Pryor, and Johnson almost positively will be.

These guys should be further along in their development eight weeks from now than they might have been with Griffin under center. At least, this is a positive way to look at what feels very much like another bad-luck Browns scenario.