Cleveland Browns: The Burials of Robert Griffin III Have Begun

It is not even summer, and we are already supposed to believe that quarterback Robert Griffin III will be a disaster during his first season with the Cleveland Browns.

Fans of the Cleveland Browns can punt on the 2016 National Football League regular season. Quarterback Robert Griffin III, signed by the Browns earlier this year, has apparently been awful during some practices.

Even before those reports surfaced, speculation arose that the latest Cleveland quarterback experiment was doomed to fail. Neil Greenberg of The Washington Post suggested this past March that Griffin could be “worse” than he ever was as the starting QB of the Washington Redskins. The title of a piece posted by Brett Cyrgalls of the New York Post last week blatantly informed readers that Griffin “barely knows how to play QB.”

ESPN Staff Writer Pat McManamon recently produced a wrap-up piece on Griffin’s work during spring session. McManamon was clearly less than impressed by what he saw.

"But in the practices open to the media, for every good throw Griffin executed, he had a bad one.There was a deep throw for a touchdown that ended minicamp, but before that three short passes were tipped, one was intercepted, two others could have been.In individual drills, Griffin showed off the magic arm that can be so impressive. But in team drills, he threw a lot of short routes, at times displayed poor footwork and often took the checkdown.OTAs lacked a “wow” moment for Griffin, a stand-up-and-take-notice moment. That lack could be caused by many factors, including what the coach requires on a particular day, but it seems like at some point a throw or a read or a pass would attract attention.It didn’t happen."

Never fear, Cleveland fans, as Griffin apparently has at least one fan within the Browns family. Former Cleveland QB Bernie Kosar told Joey Morona of Cleveland.com earlier this week that Griffin was “was phenomenal in his effort, his wanting to lead this team.”

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None of this is meant to be criticism of McManamon or any of the other reporters/columnists mentioned in this piece. McManamon was, after all, being honest about what he witnessed during Griffin’s first on-the-field performances as a member of the Browns. The main point to take away from all of this is that fans of the Browns will do well to take multiple deep breaths and relax heading into the summer months.

The truth of the matter is that there is little of meaning to discuss regarding the Browns as of June 17. Players on the Cleveland roster and elsewhere around the NFL are not in peak physical shape. They certainly are not anywhere near ready to begin participating in exhibition games let alone prepared to kick the season off.

Griffin was always going to look bad in minicamp. It was inevitable. Griffin essentially stopped being a QB after August 2015, when it became clear to everybody within the Redskins and to those who follow the NFL that Griffin was officially out of favor with the club that drafted him. New Cleveland head coach Hue Jackson not only has to resurrect Griffin’s career. Jackson is reintroducing Griffin to the process of being a NFL QB, a QB who probably will be named the starter for the Browns so long as he is healthy come August.

Don’t be bothered when you read next month that Griffin had a bad day while wearing shorts, a practice jersey and a helmet. Griffin is a unique case, a veteran of four NFL seasons who is a rookie with the Browns. Griffin and Jackson have never before worked together. Everything between now through the end of December will be part of the feeling-out process shared by player and coach.

The major selling point for Cleveland fans who listen to local sports talk radio and who follow the works of beat reporters has been that Jackson is a “quarterback guru.” There is a difference between a guru and a worker of miracles. Jackson was not going to turn Griffin into the player of old who won Offensive Rookie of the Year merely by placing hands on the shoulder and knee of the QB.

The Browns will likely be a bad football team this year. Fans must be realistic about that and also about what Griffin will contribute to that bad football team over the next seven months. Unless franchise owner Jimmy Haslam blows things up (again) this coming winter, the first year of Jackson’s tenure is more about seeing what the Browns may be in the future than about accumulating wins and competing for a playoff berth this fall.

It doesn’t matter if Griffin is terrible in June. It’s not all that important if Griffin makes regrettable mistakes and decisions in August and early September. Where will Griffin be come December 31? How, if at all, will he have improved? Are the Browns any closer to having a legitimate answer at the QB position than the club was after it parted ways with Johnny Manziel?

Answering these and other questions is what’s important for the 2016 edition of the Browns.

While those of us who weren’t there cannot say for sure, we have to assume that some fire caused the smoke that was the numerous stories about how Griffin became unpopular within the Washington locker room. Griffin, by all accounts, has earned his fair share of criticism. That’s fine.

Examine Griffin as a rookie who happens to possess experience. View Griffin as somebody who is learning on the job and who will, thus, look shaky from time to time. The possibility exists, of course, that Griffin will never get it and will never find his former form while with the Browns. There will, if that occurs, come a day when it is appropriate to bury Griffin as yet another Cleveland QB casualty.

That day, however, is not today.