Browns view Robert Griffin III as franchise quarterback?
The Cleveland Browns only signed Robert Griffin III to a two-year contract this past offseason, but that does not mean they consider him a short-term solution to a quarterback situation that has become the laughing stock of the NFL.
While it’s quite possible he just doesn’t want his QB to feel like a lame duck, Browns head of football operations Sashi Brown said this week that the team wants to develop and build around Griffin.
“To be fair to Robert, he’s young in his career in terms of his development as a quarterback,” Brown said, per Mary Kay Cabot of Cleveland.com. “We will develop him over time. He’s under contract here two years, but we don’t look at it as certainly just a two-year venture or a week-to-week venture. This is something we’re going to have to stick by him, put the right pieces around him and help him learn how to play that position as well. So it’s not a short-term kind of look at him.”
Brown added that the team likes what it has seen from RG3 to this point.
“We’ve been pleased with Robert, coming and working hard,” he said. “Really learning the system is the first thing for him. (He’s) taking to the coaching, Hue (Jackson) and Pep (Hamilton) have done a great job with him and he’s really bought in. So we’ve been pleased with Robert, and as we move forward, we’re having those discussions in terms of what we need to see.”
It’s true that Griffin is still young. He’s only 26, but there’s no chance the Browns are going to stick it out with him if their 2016 season is a disaster. They simply weren’t high enough on Carson Wentz or Jared Goff to justify passing up a draft day trade.
The Browns are not expected to be very good this year. And if one report we heard about Griffin’s development is true, RG3 could be a reason for that. We’d be stunned if he turns heads.
