RG3 and the Danger of Expectations

Robert Griffin III was anointed a savior in Washington, and those high expectations had a hand in crushing his once-promising career.

Robert Griffin III’s career was destroyed in less than two years. It took just 726 days for him to go from the savior of a moribund Washington football franchise, to a guy who barely made the team’s 53-man roster.

After being named the 2012 NFL Rookie of the Year and garnering a host of other accolades, RG3 was the toast of Washington. In a town known for hyperbolic ramblings, Griffin’s supporters turned heads, though they seemed justified in their lofty praise. The young quarterback looked like not only the future of football in Washington, but also the future of the NFL. After just 15 games expectations were through the roof. Maybe that was the problem.

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Heading in to the 2012 NFL Draft, Washington desperately needed a quarterback. With Andrew Luck slated to go No. 1 overall to the Indianapolis Colts, owner Dan Snyder’s front office went to work in order to land Griffin, the 2011 Heisman Trophy winner, out of Baylor. To ensure RG3’s selection, Washington needed to move up to No. 2 in the draft, and as a consequence had to work out a deal with the St. Louis Rams. In a move more lopsided than the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, Washington sent three first-round picks (No. 6 in 2012, No. 22 in 2013 and No. 2 in 2014) and their second-round pick in 2012 (No. 39) to St. Louis in exchange for the No. 2 pick and a chance to nab Griffin. Like Disco Demolition Night at Comiskey Park, it probably seemed like a good idea at the time.

Washington’s gigantic gamble appeared to pay off as Griffin completed 65.6 percent of his passes for 3,200 yards and 20 touchdowns (with just five interceptions) as a rookie. He boasted a quarterback rating of 102.4 and a Total QBR of 75.6 in 2012, while rushing for 815 yards and seven more touchdowns. Griffin also led Washington to its first playoff berth since 2007, and despite postseason surgery to repair a torn LCL and ACL in his right knee, everyone expected RG3 to continue on his path to greatness in 2013. But the NFL’s version M. Night Shyamalan has seen his career collapse under the weight of those expectations.

Aug 13, 2015; Cleveland, OH, USA; Washington Redskins quarterback Robert Griffin III (10) in a preseason NFL football game against the Cleveland Browns at FirstEnergy Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Andrew Weber-USA TODAY Sports /

Griffin opened the 2013 season on September 9 against the Philadelphia Eagles with the entire sports world watching his every move in eager anticipation. Just 726 days later the 25-year-old barely survived the final round of cuts to make Washington’s roster. His numbers fell off steeply in 2013, as he completed just 60.1 percent of his passes for 3,203 yards, with 16 touchdowns, 12 interceptions and six fumbles. His Total QBR dropped to 42.2, his quarterback rating fell to 82.2, and he ran for just 489 yards and no touchdowns. In 2014, he was even worse throwing just four touchdown passes in nine games, while posting a QBR of 33.5 and losing the starting job. Also that year, reports of locker room issues surrounding Griffin surfaced, as Washington’s entire franchise structure began to weaken.

The bigger lesson here has nothing to do with the mishandling of Griffin’s numerous injuries and recoveries, nor the dangers of handing a franchise over to the Claus Von Bulow of NFL coaches. Unfortunately the takeaway from the Griffin saga is that one season doesn’t make a career. It doesn’t matter how transcendent a player may look as a rookie, what makes a star in the modern NFL is consistency. Guys like Griffin and Vince Young may wow fans early, but anointing a young player as savior is foolish until he proves that he can deliver on a consistent basis. Washington and owner Dan Snyder are just as culpable as the media for elevating Griffin to legend status before he had even matured.

By heaping praise on the 22-year-old quarterback, perhaps Griffin bought in to that hype. Maybe he figured he could easily return from a devastating knee injury without putting in extra work because he had cruised through such a successful rookie season. Maybe, just maybe, he didn’t understand that it was possible for him to lose his entire career in just 726 days. Or maybe he was just too busy shooting Subway ads to even care. If we’ve learned anything in this past year, it’s that walls can cave in pretty quickly on a Subway pitchman.

Griffin’s career certainly isn’t over. He still has loads of physical talent but just hasn’t been able to show it over the past two seasons. Obviously things in Washington are all but done for RG3, and surely another team would readily pick him up if he wound up free from the clutches of Jay Gruden and Snyder. But it’s all on Griffin to create something out of his disaster of a career now.

If RG3 can’t rededicate himself to the game and find a way to get back on the field his name will live in infamy like those of Ryan Leaf, Akili Smith, JaMarcus Russell and the dozens of quarterback busts to come before him.

The sports world clearly lauded Griffin too early and those expectations had a hand in sinking his career. Now it’s on RG3 to change the narrative and prove everyone wasn’t wrong to believe in him. Maybe things will completely turn around for him, after all, Griffin knows how much can change in just 726 days.

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