Quarterback Robert Griffin III and coach Mike Shanahan disagree on whether Griffin will play in the preseason. That has prompted speculation regarding a possible disconnect between the two men.
G.M. Bruce Allen says (perhaps predictably) that’s not the case.
“I don’t see a controversy at all,” Allen said Friday, via the Associated Press. “I know somehow Billy [Kilmer] and Sonny [Jurgensen] are laughing that we created a quarterback controversy with Robert Griffin. But we have a very competitive player who’s dying to play football and we have a very experienced coach who’s doing the right thing.”
Perhaps there isn’t a controversy, but if one ever arises, it’ll be easy to pick the winner. It will be Griffin. Mike Wise of the Washington Post recently explained that Griffin holds the keys to Shanahan’s future, and Wise is right. Right or wrong, Griffin quickly has become the face of a franchise that hadn’t had a franchise quarterback in decades. He’s the most powerful guy on the team, and if he ever chooses to use that power against Shanahan, the outcome will be no different than when Magic Johnson got Paul Westhead fired more than 30 years.
For now, the situation possibly has delayed the extension of Shanahan’s contract. He’s entering the fourth year of a five-season deal. Allen downplayed the lack of an extension for Shanahan. “This isn’t the time that we’d be talking about the head coach or any of that stuff,” Allen said. “Mike is really focused on this season.”
He also needs to be focused on ensuring that RGIII doesn’t come to the same conclusion about Mike that Magic Johnson once did about Paul Westhead.