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It may seem like forever ago, but Robert Griffin III was once the next big thing in the NFL. Picked No. 2 overall in the 2012 NFL Draft, one spot after quarterback Andrew Luck went to the Indianapolis Colts, Griffin actually had the better start to his career of the pair. But all that promise quickly turned sour as Griffin suffered a serious knee injury during the playoffs as a rookie. He later found himself out of the NFL for the entire 2017 season. Having spent the last two years with the Baltimore Ravens as a backup, Griffin hasn’t given up on his dreams of starting again.
“My goal is to get back to that,” Griffin said on “The Zach Gelb Show,” per Tim Kelly of Radio.com. “I know that Lamar is the guy in Baltimore, but that doesn’t extinguish my fire to go out and want to be a starter. And not just be a starter, be a franchise player.
“I’m not in this to play for another four or five years as a backup. That’s not what I’m about.”
After his unceremonious departure from the Redskins and a brief stint with the Cleveland Browns in 2016, Griffin sat out all of 2017 before getting a chance to prove himself with the Baltimore Ravens. Signed as a depth quarterback, Griffin practiced well and showed plenty of polish in preseason action to stay onboard as the Ravens’ third quarterback that season. With Joe Flacco getting traded after the season, Griffin was back in 2019 as Jackson’s top backup. Slowly but surely, Griffin has been working his way back up the ladder in the hopes of getting another chance at a starring role.
“After sitting out of the league in 2017 and coming back in and having to earn everything all over again … starting from scratch … everyone saying, ‘Can he do it? Can he still do this? Can he still run? Can he still move? Can he still throw?’ And I think I’ve gone out and systematically shown over the course of the last two years that I can still do all those things and do it at a high level. So, that’s my goal. And it’s not just to get back to the top of the mountain and look at the scenery. I want to get back to the top of the mountain and go win — and win a lot.”
Griffin has done well in Baltimore, showing that he still had a good bit of speed and, more importantly, that he can stay healthy. Griffin believes that without his injuries, he’d “still be a franchise quarterback to this day.” But with some time in a backup role, the league can’t help but remain interested in what could be. The Ravens have gotten trade calls about Griffin before, showing at least a little interest this late in his career.
To those that might still wonder if Griffin can handle the rigors of being a starting quarterback and playing a full 16-game schedule, he pitched himself in a different light.
“What I would say is that one, I don’t get injured a lot,” Griffin said. “Football is a contact sport. A guy by the name of Matthew Stafford was hurt consistently for the first couple years of his career and then he turned it around and he’s had an illustrious long career throwing for tons of yards and having a ton of success.
“When you say, ‘Well, Robert, you haven’t started in a really long time,’ I say, ‘Well, football is football, and the more you play, the better you get.’ Now I’m sitting here as a seven- or eight-year vet, 30 years old. … I’ve seen a lot … I’ve done a lot and understand the game much better now than when I was a rookie and you saw what I did then.”
While franchise quarterbacks like Tom Brady and Philip Rivers are set to wear a different uniform for the first time in their careers, there’s no reason why Griffin can’t get another shot at the limelight. The question seems to be more a matter of when and where it’ll happen.
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