BOCA RATON, Fla. – What did Cleveland Browns coach Hue Jackson hear when he asked Robert Griffin III about what went wrong in Washington?
“I heard the truth,” Jackson said during the annual coaches’ breakfast at the NFL meetings Tuesday. “He takes responsibility. He knows there’s things he could have did better and that’s where he is. To me, that showed me the humbleness. Because that’s what it’s all about. In this league, you don’t grow if you don’t admit that you made some mistakes, and that’s OK.”
Cut March 7 by the Redskins, Griffin is known to have visited two teams with quarterback questions since: the New York Jets on Saturday and the Browns on Saturday.
Both teams’ head coaches acknowledged Tuesday they inquired about how RG3 went from 2012 NFL offensive player of the year to a lightning rod who lost the job to Kirk Cousins before last season. And both coaches expressed satisfaction with Griffin’s answers.
“Things didn’t work out,” Jets coach Todd Bowles said. “He kept getting hurt. They played the other guy. He didn’t have any excuses. He didn’t badmouth anybody, have any excuses. He just wants to play and get better and move forward. He understood what happened, he took it in stride and he moved forward.”
Griffin, 26, hasn’t played a down of game action since suffering a concussion during an exhibition in August. The benching was just the conclusion of RG3’s descent in Washington as he struggled to regain top form after knee injuries his rookie year and was the centerpiece of numerous unflattering stories about his relationships with coaches and teammates.
“It’s no different than myself when I was the head coach of the Raiders. I made some mistakes, and you grow from them. You learn from them,” said Jackson, now getting his own second chance in Cleveland. “Sometimes, you’re not ready to do it the first time and things happen. You move on from it, you grow from it, you get over the next hump.”
Neither coach was willing to say his team would make Griffin an offer. The Jets are still trying to reach a deal with their incumbent starter, journeyman Ryan Fitzpatrick, and the Browns are evaluating their options, including with the No. 2 overall pick in April’s draft.
Neither coach ruled out signing Griffin either. Denver Broncos coach Gary Kubiak acknowledged his team has discussed RG3, too, though he wouldn’t say if there were any plans to have him visit.
“People have bad years,” Bowles said. “It’s not just him, it’s the whole league. Unless you win a Super Bowl, certain people have bad years on your team and other teams, so you’ve got to evaluate him, how he would fit into your scheme and how he played when he was well, understanding what the weaknesses were when he played bad and you make the evaluation that way.”
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