NFL writer Mike Silver recently made an appearance on Barstool’s Pardon My Take and revealed details many didn’t know about Robert Griffin III’s (RG3) rookie year in Washington and Mike Shanahan’s idea to trade the quarterback following his rookie year.
In his rookie year, RG3 amassed a 9-6 record as the starter, leading Washington to the playoffs and winning the NFC East. In that season, Griffin threw for 20 touchdowns and just 5 interceptions to go along with 3,200 passing yards, 815 rushing yards, and an additional 7 rushing touchdowns. He was injured late in the season and returned for the playoffs, where he further injured his knee– a turning point in his career.
Silver shared a story about how RG3’s initial and subsequent injury played out, including how it was handled by Mike Shanahan and Dan Snyder– Washington’s head coach and owner the time.
According to Silver, when Griffin went down and was replaced by Kirk Cousins for the important game against the Cleveland Browns– the game plan looked like a more traditional Shanahan offense that included a lot of bootlegs (fake handoffs and roll outs), where Cousins excelled. Following Washington’s victory, then-owner Dan Snyder “barrels past Kirk Cousins” to get to RG3 to tell him not to worry and that he is still his guy.
As that was happening, Silver says that Griffin’s father (RG2) confronted Shanahan in the locker room following the game asking why running plays weren’t called for Cousins. Shanahan replied by telling RG2 that Cousins had the option to run on the bootlegs, but chose to throw. RG2 stated that “we want to run those plays with Robert” and Silver notes that RG3 was probably threatened by Cousins’ success and comes back too early for the playoff game, where he further injured his knee.
Silver stated that most fans believed RG3 would have surgery and that Washington would build on the success of his rookie season. Mike Shanahan, however had other plans– suggesting that RG3 be traded, “we know he’s not really what people think he is. The league’s gonna catch up, and it’s not gonna work out the way you think. His value is amazing, we might get back the three ones we gave up and we can play with Kirk.” As fans are aware, the idea did not go over well with the rest of the organization. The video can be seen below:
.@MikeSilver tells the behind the scenes story of how Washington handled the RG3 and Kirk Cousins QB room
Presented by @rhoback pic.twitter.com/DD2V9jwEQD
— Pardon My Take (@PardonMyTake) September 25, 2024