RG3 about to sign new deal, is officially back in the NFL
A mercurial, inconsistent dual-threat quarterback who has shown flashes of brilliance in the past but spent the 2017 NFL season as an unsigned free agent, and who also happens to be black, has reached an agreement to sign with the Baltimore Ravens.
Shockingly, it’s not Colin Kaepernick.
Rather, it’s Robert Griffin III who is back in the NFL, agreeing to terms on a 1-year deal with the Ravens.
Ozzie Newsome announces the addition of RG3. pic.twitter.com/gBM43MCQkI
— Baltimore Ravens (@Ravens) April 4, 2018
“He came in last week, worked out, had a real good workout, and we were able to come to an agreement late yesterday,” Ravens general manager Ozzie Newsome said. “He will probably be here early next week to sign the deal.”
It’s an interesting move for the Ravens, who actually considered signing Kaepernick last season to serve as the backup to incumbent starter Joe Flacco.
From all indications, the Ravens and Kaepernick were unable to agree to a deal, and negotiations effectively ended when Nessa Diab, Kaepernick’s activist girlfriend, tweeted out an image depicting Ravens owner Steve Bisciotti as a racist slave owner.
🎯 @raylewis pic.twitter.com/N9k7nDgmDh
— NESSA (@nessnitty) August 3, 2017
Unfortunately for Kaepernick and his supporters, there’s not much to quibble with when it comes to Griffin’s new deal with the Ravens. Griffin’s younger, had a higher peak, has a better football pedigree and has experienced legitimate NFL success without an elite defense backing him up (as Kaepernick had during his best years in San Francisco.) For obvious reasons, the race card shouldn’t be applicable here either.
That being said, it’s still a somewhat surprising move for the Ravens.
Flacco is entrenched in his position as Baltimore’s starting quarterback. He had a very uneven season for the Ravens in 2017, albeit with the caveat that a gang of rabid kangaroos would’ve been an upgrade over his actual receiving corps.
With Flacco being 33, it would’ve made sense for the Ravens to at least explore the possibility of acquiring a much younger prospect who could develop into Facco’s long-term replacement.
Griffin is still only just 28, but he’s as fragile as he is talented, so it’s unlikely the Ravens view him as any sort of sustainable starting quarterback of the future.
Obviously, this doesn’t preclude the Ravens from taking a late-round flier on a quarterback prospect in the draft. However, most teams in the NFL are not fans of having three quarterbacks on the roster.
Few NFL talents have fallen off as steep a cliff as Griffin has in recent years.
In 2012, Griffin took the NFL by storm, wrestling away the rookie of the year award away from fellow star freshman Andrew Luck.
Griffin even took the moribund Washington Redskins to the playoffs in his first year. Unfortunately, Griffin suffered a bad knee injury in the Wildcard round and was never quite the same again. He had multiple comeback attempts with the Redskins, all of which ended due to injury. He was finally cut by the team just 4 years after being the second overall pick of the draft. He spent a lone season for the Cleveland Browns in 2016 before spending all of 2017 as an unsigned free agent.
Griffin is unlikely to see that type of opportunity in Baltimore, especially considering how durable Flacco has been during his career.
That being said, at least Griffin has done something no quarterback has been able to do in almost 2 years: win a game for the Browns.
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