How committed is Mike Shanahan to keeping Robert Griffin III on the bench for the remainder of the season? As long as Shanahan is the coach, Griffin will not be touching the field again during a game in 2013. According to Mike Jones of The Washington Post, Shanahan told reporters on Thursday that the Redskins would sign another quarterback if Kirk Cousins or backup quarterback Rex Grossman got injured.
So there you have it — RG3 isn’t even available in an emergency. He is expected to be inactive this weekend and will apparently remain that way for the rest of the season. Since Shanahan insists he is benching Griffin to protect his health and the future of the Redskins franchise, I guess that is the only way to go.
To make matters more interesting, Washington offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan — who happens to be Mike’s son — told reporters on Thursday that he was “disappointed” RG3 won’t be playing and had no hand in the decision to bench him.
“You play your starting quarterback, that’s been Robert,” Kyle Shanahan said, via Pro Football Talk. “I’m pretty disappointed we don’t get to play with him. But it is what it is, and I’m gonna deal with the cards I’ve been dealt.
“I’ve got zero involvement in that. I actually game-planned for both (Griffin and Cousins) all Tuesday. It was a little frustrating to game plan for both. I was told the final decision Wednesday morning, then rolled with it. I definitely made it clear I was disappointed in that. … I think it would be good for Robert to get the reps.”
As PFT’s Mike Florio noted, that could simply be Mike’s way of protecting his son from what has turned into an embarrassing mess. With all the rumors swirling around about the elder Shanahan intentionally trying to provoke Daniel Snyder to fire him, it’s probably wise to keep his son as distant from the unpopular decision making as possible.
