Eighty percent of Washington Redskins fans want the 2012 NFL Draft to start tomorrow because we can’t wait another day to draft Robert Griffin III. Jon Gruden rides to the rescue with his one-on-one interview with RG3 on his QB Camp show on ESPN Monday night.
If you missed it, you can catch it on YouTube and on ESPN replays. (hat tip to Redskins.com for pointing me there.)
Gruden’s QB Camps have been must-see TV since last year when pro football audiences got their first good look at Cam Newton unfiltered by silly Mel Kiper opinions. This show teases us with Griffin’s abundant star quality and provides a taste of the coaching RG3 should expect at training camp.
Griffin was in the DC area for a card and memorabilia show over the weekend. It is a virtual certainty that the Redskins will select him with their first-round pick. As if to make the point, the Redskins will open FedEx Field for a Draft Selection Day party Thursday evening, April 26. I won’t be surprised if 50,000 fans show up after work to be an eye witness to history.
The Redskins will then host its annual Draft Party at FedEx Saturday afternoon. They won’t have anything to do except to see what St. Louis does with the two 2012 picks it gained from Washington in exchange for its second overall pick. You can bet that Washington will have their first round selectee on hand Saturday. The Redskins are careful not to say whom that will be because of the remote chance the Colts will fool everyone and take Griffin instead of Andrew Luck.
RG3. Andrew Luck. There hasn’t been this much excitement about two rookie quarterbacks since Peyton Manning and Ryan leaf entered the league together. The San Diego Chargers guessed wrong about Leaf. The blunder ended Bobby Beathard’s career as a football executive. It is a cautionary tale for Redskins fans increasingly obsessed by Griffin.
This may not work out. Griffin (and Luck) is all potential at this point. We are analytics here at Hog Heaven. We are just acknowledging fact, not making a prediction. Don’t call us haters, which is not an actual word.
Griffin and the Redskins have work to do after his arrival in order to win titles. But, Griffin shows none of the red flags, so obviously shown in hindsight, by players like Leaf and JaMarcus Russell. Leaf’s character flaws continue to plague him. Russell made Al Davis more of the laughing stock than he had already become. Drafting Heath Shuler did nothing for Charley Casserly’s reputation. Mike Shanahan and Bruce Allen have a lot on the line with RG3.
If Griffin should bust, again, not a prediction, I’m still all in on the trade up. It was the correct strategy for Washington. Like Andrew Luck, Cam Newton, Matthew Stafford and Sam Bradford, Robert Griffin III is a once in a lifetime player. Shanahan’s move was a calculated risk he had to take.
Point after
This story is a day late, but hopefully not a dollar short. I took a long weekend away. In the Internet Age, you tell people when you are back, not when you are leaving. Sadly, I had to return the Benz and rescind the purchase of that new yacht. It turns out that I am not a jackpot mega-millionaire afterall.
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