Our first thought when reports started coming out that the Washington Redskins would pick up the fifth-year option on quarterback Robert Griffin III was ... really?
It's basically a franchise tag for Griffin — for a player the head coach, Jay Gruden, appears to want no part of? I thought franchise tags were for franchise players? But it is official, the Redskins picked up the $16.1 million option for Griffin's fifth year.
Well, let's unpack this story one piece at a time, shall we?
One thing I've learned since April 26, 2012 — the day RG3 became a Redskin — is that anything Griffin-related should be directly linked to team owner Daniel Snyder. Yes, they're buddies, and yes, they're tied at the hip — financially and otherwise — because Snyder paid a king's ransom to move up and get his prized QB and isn't ready to give up on a QB that gave him and his team such joy three seasons ago.
Gruden has a fully guaranteed contract, so he's not going anywhere without a huge buyout. RG3 might be back, too, even if the two don't work all that well together because, darn it, Snyder thinks it should work. He hired Gruden for his game and his name and believes the man knows football. Snyder has seen Griffin do magical things and believes it's too soon to give up on him.
So how could this pairing not work?
Money never has been an impediment for the owner. Snyder will pay for mistakes to go away, and he'll pay to cover up and keep mistakes, if for no other reason than for ego and stubbornness. If he's willing to give up personnel control to his general manager, Scot McCloughan, then Snyder is going to do his best to exert control in one way: by picking up a fifth-year option that would cost him $16.1 million.
Back to that franchise tag analogy — Snyder is willing to talk himself into the move by saying to himself, If a franchise QB is worth about $20 million, then RG3 is most certainly worth $4 mil less! That's how that works.
This is where the Snyder-McCloughan-Gruden dynamic will be fascinating to watch. What if RG3 fails and Gruden wants to bench him? As the head coach, he surely has that right (doesn't he?). How will that affect his standing with the front office and, most important, with the owner? Might Gruden want to force his way out if he feels Snyder is going to jam a QB down his throat that he doesn't want?
If Griffin returns to form, the deal will be praised up and down. But right now, it looks like a gamble — one with a lot of tenticles attached.
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