Redskins GM Scot McCloughan suggests it’s too early to give up on RGIII
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Version 0 of 1. New Redskins General Manager Scot McCloughan didn’t say much about Washington’s quarterback situation during his introductory press conference on Friday, but he provided a little more insight about his thoughts on Robert Griffin III’s future in D.C. in a couple of subsequent radio interviews. “I don’t have a complete opinion on [Griffin] quite yet,” McCloughan told Kevin Sheehan and Thom Loverro on ESPN 980′s The Sports Fix. “I just started this morning watching the game tape. For me, I’m very thorough. I need to go through it to make my decision. I can tell you this, knowing this, him coming out of college, I was very impressed, especially with his deep-ball accuracy. It was very impressive, and [his] athleticism and all that. But even with Kirk, I felt positive with him coming out of Michigan State, I liked him quite a bit too. I thought there was a difference between him and Robert. But even McCoy was a dang good college player. I mean, all three of them won games. That’s the bottom line.” Sheehan asked McCloughan if the bounty of draft picks the Redskins gave up to select Griffin in 2012 would influence his decision to keep Griffin on the roster, play him, or let him go. “No, I think [the 2015] season is going to tell a lot,” McCloughan said. “It’s going to tell a lot. We’ll see what happens heading up to the draft and all that stuff, but I don’t think you ever give up on a young quarterback that … took you to the playoffs as a rookie. I really don’t think you do that. Because they’re so hard to find and he’s still young. Give him the benefit of the doubt, he’s been banged up. You can say, ‘Yeah, the grass is greener,’ but who can we go get? If all of a sudden he goes somewhere and starts lighting it up, you know? And Jay’s system, that’s a tough system the first year for to learn, you know? So, I’m very curious to see how his second year goes. Very curious.” McCloughan stopped short of guaranteeing that Griffin would be on the Redskins’ roster in 2015, but he made it sound as if Griffin will be a part of the team’s plans. “I just don’t think you give up on a young quarterback until absolutely you have to,” he said. McCloughan echoed those sentiments during an appearance with Grant Paulsen and Danny Rouhier on 106.7 The Fan a short time later when asked about developing a quarterback like Griffin. “I think you need to give him some time,” McCloughan said. “It’s the most important position on the field for any organization. You have to give him some time, but again, you can’t put the ball in their hands and say, ‘You have to do it. For us to win on Sunday, you have to do it.’ You have to set it up where you have talent around him, where he doesn’t have to do it. Of course he’s taking the ball every snap of the game, so he has the most impact, but run that ball, set that run up early, let them know you’re going to be hitting them in the jaw all day, ‘cause I’m telling you, if you break a guy’s will on the d-line, you got ‘em. You keep going downhill. But I think you have to be careful giving up on a quarterback too early in the NFL. “ Earlier in the segment, McCloughan talked about the importance of surrounding a quarterback with talent. “The key thing with me, the same thing we did with Alex Smith when we drafted him in San Fran was, build around him,” he said. “Don’t make the quarterback have to win and lose the game for you. Let’s get him some stud offensive linemen, let’s get a damn good running game, let’s get a tight end that can stretch the field, a couple of receivers to make plays. Then all of a sudden that one guy becomes much better.” |