New York Giants Should Avoid Robert Griffin III in Free Agency

Quarterback Robert Griffin III was once an exciting prospect, but he’s now a player the New York Giants should avoid no matter what.

Some things are so obvious, they shouldn’t need to be said out loud. It’s a bad idea to touch an open flame with any part of your skin. You never tug on Superman’s cape. Under no circumstance should you ever even flirt with the idea of messing with Texas. The ceiling probably isn’t the roof, regardless of what Michael Jordan has to say on the subject.

That the New York Giants should respectfully pass on quarterback Robert Griffin III can go right alongside the others. Some out there reading this may have already said “duh” and moved on, but the reality of the situation is that the Giants taking a flyer on Griffin isn’t actually all that crazy an idea on paper, at first glance. The Giants need a backup quarterback in case 36-year-old Eli Manning goes down because of an injury. RG3 needs work after being cut by the Browns, and some team will give him a shot to prove he’s worthy of a roster spot before September rolls around.

Before burying Griffin and the idea the Giants should consider him miles beneath the earth, let’s first remember the positives about the player and the man. Those of us who weren’t in the locker room during Griffin’s tenure with the Washington Redskins will never know what he was or wasn’t as a leader on the field or behind the scenes, but all indications are he did all the right things during his single season with the Cleveland Browns.

As far as we know, Griffin was a pro while preparing for the 2016 campaign, and he showed glimpses he could once again be the player of old during the preseason. His arm strength is undeniable to this day, and there were even signs in August and September he regained confidence as it pertained to leaving the pocket and making positive plays with his legs.

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Unfortunately, those bright moments were few and far between, teases that Griffin had turned the clock back to 2012 and his rookie campaign. To put it a different way using a term that’s grown in popularity over the past several months, they were “fake news.” Griffin, who turned 27 years old last month, and the player who dazzled fans and baffled opposing defenses five seasons ago are now two different people.

A nice way to put it would be to say Griffin’s pocket awareness and decision-making skills while scanning the field for open targets are both questionable. Another way to say it is that he appeared skittish and antsy when tasked with playing in meaningful games against starting defensive players. He remains a project after five seasons in the NFL, to the point one cannot help but wonder if what you see is what you’re going to get for the remainder of his career.

Most worrisome, of course, is Griffin’s well-documented injury history. He suffered multiple knee injuries over the years before he ever signed with the Browns. He appeared in only nine contests back in 2013, he was sidelined for the entire 2015 campaign after he suffered a concussion in a preseason contest and he failed to survive a single game before he was downed by a serious shoulder injury in Week 1 of the 2016 season. In total, he’s appeared in only 14 games since September 2014.

There currently exists no evidence whatsoever Griffin can be a reliable active NFL player. As the cliche goes, the most important ability in sports is availability, and the Giants could not count on Griffin being available for four straight months even as a backup. While the previously mentioned Manning has been the most durable starter in the NFL since the fall of 2004, logic suggests the injury bug will eventually bite the veteran. The 2017 Giants team that is built to win a title next February needs somebody who can fill in under center and win if Manning is unable to go for any reason.

Josh McCown is a fine example. McCown won’t win a team 12 games during a season, but he’s traveled around the NFL and has proven he can be the type of backup a team such as the Giants will need once summer training camps roll around. The Giants signing McCown makes way more sense than the club even picking up the phone to see if Griffin would be interested in joining Big Blue on the cheap.

Next: Don't Throw Eli Manning Under the Bus

Perhaps a team with a franchise quarterback on the roster and brilliant offensive minds on its coaching staff can reclaim and salvage whatever is left of Griffin’s once-promising career. The Giants are in no place to take on such a task heading into the spring, and New York needs to look elsewhere for Manning’s backup.

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