Before addressing this year’s draft class of quarterbacks, let’s talk about QB free agents-to-be, Robert Griffin III and Johnny Manziel, both picked in the first round in recent drafts.
On December 27th 2015, Kansas City played host to a Cleveland Browns team led by Johnny Manziel at QB. Johnny Football brought his team to the brink of a win vs. K.C. which also eventually saw him removing his helmet and then slamming it to the turf as time expired in defeat.
That pretty much encapsulates Johnny Manziel’s on-field potential: tremendous but also tremendously volatile.
Off the field, Johnny Manziel is out of control. A true to life Tsunami of piss. End of interest.
Robert Griffin III is a completely different story.
Some say RGIII is responsible for getting multiple head coaches fired. I don’t buy that he got anyone fired. If they’re talking about Mike Shanahan you must know he’s not only perfectly capable of getting fired on his own, meaning, he’s difficult to work with (Mike Shanahan’s got a crippling “My way or the highway” policy that players hate). However, pair Shanny up with Dictator Dan Snyder, owner of the Washington “You-know-who’s,” and you’ve got the recipe for another “D” word: divorce.
What do… Norv Turner, Terry Robiskie, Marty Schottenheimer, Steve Spurrier, Joe Gibbs, Jim Zorn and Mike Shanahan… all have in common? That’s right, they were all fired by Dan Snyder. That’s 7 coaches in 14 seasons, obviously an average of 1 new coach, every other year, which is exactly how long Mike Shanahan lasted, two seasons.
Wouldn’t you say the reason for that is owner related more than it is coach related? By the way, only Norv Turner had a winning record in that span.
So, back to Robert Griffin the Third. Is there something there that the Chiefs should consider when he becomes available?
In college, there has not been a quarterback who I enjoyed watching more than RGIII. In fact, because I live in Texas his games were often offered up on local broadcasts because there are loads of Baylor Alums here in Dallas and Waco is only a 90 minute drive. So, I’ve seen a lot of RGIII.
At the time of the draft, I was of the opinion that Griffin was the better QB, between he and Andrew Luck. While his NFL rookie year performance seemed to support that idea, he hasn’t been the same player since 2013:
2012- 3,200 yards passing
2013- 3,203 yards passing
2014- 1,169 yards passing
2015- nada
While I could go on about the potentials of RGIII and how he is suited to an Andy Reid offense, it should be noted that he turned 26 years old on February 12th, this month, and if he were asked to come and sit behind Alex Smith for two seasons, he’d have to accept the fact that he’d be be 28 years old before he could stand at the helm of the Chiefs ship.
I don’t believe that’s happening as much as I’d like it to… or no matter how much I think that would be good for his quarterbacking skills-development. So, I’ll give that a 5% chance of happening.
Next: Is There a QBOTF in the 2016 Draft?