Washington quarterback Robert Griffin III said today that he doesn’t like the team’s handling of his knee injury and wants to convince the coaching staff to let him play in the preseason. Shortly after Griffin raised that issue, head coach Mike Shanahan slammed the door on it.
“No, no possibility,” Shanahan said when asked if there was any chance he’d play Griffin in the preseason.
Although Shanahan and Griffin seem to be at odds about the timetable for Griffin’s return, Griffin took to Twitter to say there’s “no friction” between himself and his coach, while Shanahan said he’s glad Griffin is the kind of competitor who wants to be out there with his teammates, even for meaningless exhibition games.
“I love it when somebody wants to be out there; that’s a good problem to have as a head coach,” Shanahan added. “But my job is to make sure that we do the best thing for Robert. And that’s what I’m going to try to do.”
Shanahan is making the right call here: It would be foolish to risk a setback for Griffin in the preseason. But it’s a good sign that Griffin thinks he’d be ready to play this week if the team would let him.