The RG3 saga continues

Shanahan: I wanted Peyton, settled for RG3 trade

by Michael David Smith

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2015/02/18/shanahan-i-wanted-peyton-settled-for-rg3-trade/

Trading up for Robert Griffin III was not Mike Shanahan’s first choice when considering who his quarterback would be in Washington in 2012.

Shanahan said on ESPN 980 that what he really wanted was to sign Peyton Manning after he was released by the Colts. Shanahan thinks he and Manning were on the same page and that a deal could have been done, except for one problem: Peyton didn’t want to be in the same division as his brother, Giants quarterback Eli Manning.

“We were talking to Peyton at that time. That was a strong consideration,” Shanahan said. “But at the end of the day I felt that with Eli being with the Giants he wasn’t coming in our direction.”

That’s when Washington started looking to trade up and draft Griffin. But that trade, Shanahan said, was a huge risk.

“I did not feel good about giving up two No. 1s and a No. 2, and they all knew I felt that way,” Shanahan said. “I said, ‘Hey, yeah, I would take the chance. But I want you to know that he’s really going to have to commit to what we’re doing.’”

In fact, Shanahan said he wouldn’t have given up all those draft picks if he’d known that the NFL was about to dock Washington $36 million in cap space as a penalty for the way the team structured contracts during the uncapped season in 2010.

“I don’t think you could have,” Shanahan said when asked if he would have traded away all those picks knowing about the impending salary cap penalty. “When you get penalized like we did, you can’t bring any players in.”

Shanahan said that Washington was very high on five quarterbacks in that draft: Griffin, Andrew Luck, Ryan Tannehill, Russell Wilson and Kirk Cousins. They ultimately drafted both Griffin and Cousins, and Shanahan said they strongly considered taking Wilson in the third round, before the Seahawks drafted him. If Washington had pulled the trigger on that pick, it would have greatly changed the fortunes of two franchises.

Although Shanahan said he liked Griffin coming out of Baylor, he also noted some problems that they had with Griffin in Washington. A big one is that Griffin bristled at having to run the read-option, even though that was often what Griffin did best. Shanahan said that when Cousins played in place of an injured Griffin during their rookie season, Griffin was bothered by the fact that they called a different style of offense for Cousins.

Shanahan also said he felt at times that Griffin wasn’t being forthright with him about the health of his injured knee, and that Griffin would get upset when Shanahan would ask him to keep him posted about whether his knee was hurting him. Shanahan said that he ultimately called fewer read-option plays because he was worried about Griffin’s knee, even though Griffin was telling him that he was fine.

Ultimately, Shanahan sounds like a coach who feels like he never got exactly what he wanted at the quarterback position after four years in Washington.

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Mike Shanahan: RGIII Told Me Which Plays Were “Unacceptable”

Barry Petchesky

http://deadspin.com/mike-shanahan-rgiii-told-me-which-plays-were-unaccept-1686611287

Robert Griffin III received The Dreaded Vote Of Confidence™ from head coach Jay Gruden today, who declared that the embattled QB will be his No. 1 guy to start the season. Just saying, I don’t see the Colts or Dolphins or Seahawks having to make announcements supporting their respective Class of 2012 signal-callers.

“We’ll go into the season with Robert as the No. 1 guy, obviously,” Gruden told reporters at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis. “And then it’s up to Robert to continue to grow and mature as a quarterback and as a person.”

This isn’t going to please Kirk Cousins, who declared that if he didn’t get the chance to at least compete for the No. 1 job, he wanted a trade.

Gruden said he wants to see “some improvement” out of Griffin, which is not unreasonable. But there’s really no one pressuring him for the job in the short-term. (Things would be very different had the Skins drafted Russell Wilson to back up Griffin, as Mike Shanahan says they considered.)

Instead, this is about Griffin’s NFL future. Unless Washington wants to commit $18.4 million to keep him around for another year, Griffin will be a free agent after next season. He’ll be playing for his contract, and for any contract, really, but at least he’ll get playing time.

Because this seems like the place for it, how about a Robert Griffin story that makes everyone look bad? Former coach Mike Shanahan was on ESPN Radio in D.C. today, and recounted how, two days after the Super Bowl in Griffin’s rookie season, the QB requested a meeting with his coach to tell him which plays he liked and which were “unacceptable.” A ballsy move, one Shanahan assumed Griffin only felt empowered to pull because he had Dan Snyder in his corner.

“Yeah, he did ask for a meeting. He did talk about, number one, he wanted change…He actually [mentioned] what plays were acceptable and unacceptable, and when he started talking about what plays were acceptable and unacceptable, and that he wasn’t a rookie anymore and wanted to voice his opinion, the term unacceptable is used by Dan, the owner, quite often. So a little bit of a smile when I heard some of these complaints.”

Shanahan said Griffin was determined to throw more and run less, and that he didn’t want to be associated with running quarterbacks.

“He wanted to be more of a drop-back, Aaron Rodgers-type guy,” Shanahan said. “He did a few more things, and basically what I did is I went and talked to Dan, and I said, ‘Hey, Dan, for a quarterback to come to me, a veteran coach, and share these things, number one, he can’t be the sharpest guy to do something like that, or he’s got to feel very good about the owner backing him up.

And since you have been telling me from Day One that he’s a drop-back quarterback and we should do more drop-back, and you guys have spent the last couple months together, I would think, or at least the last month, that this is an extension of you.’ [Snyder] said it wasn’t.”

Also, just gonna draw your attention to this Jason Reid Washington Post column from a couple of weeks ago, in which he called Griffin “one of the least self-aware people you’ll ever meet, and his ineptitude in the pocket the past two seasons was outmatched only by his ego.”

One more thing to drop in:

Dan Steinberg ✔ @dcsportsbog

Observed: many “anonymous sources familiar with the workings of Redskins Park” the last few years used words very similar to Mike Shanahan’s

This season’s going to be wonderful. I don’t know how anyone gets out alive.