Robert Griffin III busted and alone. What now?

Robert Griffin III is a bust.

There, I said it. I do not like saying it. Hog Heaven is an RGFan. We were the first fan blogger to tout him as the next quarterback of your Washington Redskins, way back on December 6, 2011.

Google found only two, 2, online images of him when we wrote that story.

Football smart people, from Jimmy Johnson to LaVar Arrington to John Keim say he is done here.

The Redskins are not close to that. They say the right things, that RG remains part of the Redskins long-term future.

This is when you start to parse words. They could mean that RG gets a shot in 2015 to regain his starting spot. The one thing Mike Shanahan never tried with Griffin is to make him earn his starting spot.

Or, the Redskins could mean that the Griffin factor is part of their long-term assessment of trade options.

If that is the case, it makes no sense for the team even to hint that Griffin is done. It is hard to fool other teams. They know, often better than Daniel Snyder does, the forces in play that will drive the decision. (h/t to Grantland for that excellent article.)

There is no point to giving other teams hints.

Now is the time for Robert Griffin III to prove he is mentally tough.

I wonder if he’s a momma’s boy. I am not the only one to ask, sadly.

RG must show that he is the master of adversity.

I love Griffin’s backstory – black Army brat from two-parent middle-class family. Maybe it was a curse. Maybe his people were too close to be a help instead of a crutch that hindered standing on his own two feet.

In a similar case, Joe Theismann drove to Joe Gibbs house to hug it out. The two did great things together. That took mental toughness. Has RG ever heard that story?

Griffin played a role in what went down with the Shanahan last year, including the non-decision that kept him in the January 2013 playoff game. That made a serious knee injury into a catastrophic one and the key moment when everything changed.

He was:

• not tough enough to take himself out of that game;
• not tough enough to stand up to Shanahan in a constructive way;
• not tough enough to adapt to a new coach in a no excuses season;
• not tough enough to out-perform Kirk Cousins in yards per game, TDs per game or yards per pass attempt;
• not tough enough to redefine the position as a dual threat.

RG’s fundamental issues are mental.

Is he tough enough now to look inward and fight back? Is he tough enough to regain his place in the sun in Washington or elsewhere?

Hope so because…

…there is a future

If Drew Stanton, Mark Sanchez, Josh McCown, Kyle Orton and Colt McCoy can be starters in the NFL, there is a future for RGIII and Cousins.

Work!