Today is the day that rosters must reduce to 53. Which means that every team will be cutting plenty of players between now at 4:00 p.m. ET.
According to Jeff Darlington of NFL Media, Washington won’t be cutting quarterback Robert Griffin III. Which means he won’t be RG-3-years-and-out.
Instead, the man who roughly a month ago was reconfirmed as the starter will be the primary backup to new starter Kirk Cousins. Which means Griffin won’t be RG-3-rd-string.
The decision likely arises at least in part from the fact that Griffin is RG-3-point-249-million-guaranteed in 2015, money he’ll make whether he’s on the team or not, with no offset for money he makes elsewhere. So if they’re going to pay him either way, why not keep him around?
The problem is that, if/when he plays this year, any injury that would carry into next season would entitle him to $16.1 million from the team, since his fifth-year option salary is guaranteed for injury.
Of course, he’s already injured; he has a concussion. And there’s an obvious temptation to not be cleared from the concussion through next season, in order to get the $16.1 million. That’s why the team needs to flip the incentive, telling him that he’ll be cut if he’s cleared to play, so that he can then play elsewhere in 2015 instead of being relegated to scrub with a franchise for which not long ago he was seen as a savior.
Even if he’s going to be a backup somewhere (and he surely would be at first), wouldn’t Griffin much rather be a backup in a place where he has never been a star? While his performance in 2012 seems like a long time ago for anyone of the outside, Griffin still works out in the same place, practices in the same place, plays in the same place, wears the same uniform.
A change of scenery could be just what he needs. Offering it could be exactly what the team needs to avoid the risk of Griffin receiving 17 game checks worth $947,000 each in 2016.