Mike Shanahan says RG3’s maturity will take time
By Josh Sanchez
The Washington Redskins thought they had one of the top young quarterbacks in the NFL last season when Robert Griffin III burst onto the scene as a rookie, but he suffered a torn ACL at the end of last season and he has yet to fully recover.
Griffin has been making terrible decisions throughout the season and the frustration within the organization continues to grow, but Redskins head coach Mike Shanahan says that patience is the key as Griffin needs to continue maturing.
“One of the reasons why we had the success that we had, probably the type of success where he separated himself from every rookie in the history of the game, is he was able to do some things that other quarterbacks couldn’t do,” Shanahan said, via Pro Football Talk.
“We had a dual threat. Now that threat is not quite there, as strong as it was a year ago. But now we go to a different direction, with our play action, we still run some of the zone reads, so that will come. That maturity will come. But it doesn’t happen overnight. There’s a growing period. If you take a look at so many of these quarterbacks, all the Hall of Fame quarterbacks, they’ve had much tougher periods than we’ve gone through so far. It doesn’t happen overnight, but he’s got all the ability in the world to make that big jump, and you just have to be patient.”
Hopefully Griffin can mature quickly or Shanahan may find himself out of a job and the Redskins may have to seriously consider benching Griffin in favor of Kirk Cousins.