Former Washington quarterback Donovan McNabb offered this offseason to have a sit-down with current Washington quarterback Robert Griffin III to advise the youngster on how to succeed in the NFL, on and off the field. Griffin declined.
Griffin discussed the situation with GQ, saying that he doesn’t have anything against McNabb, but that he thinks it would be better to keep his distance.
“I don’t think Donovan is an idiot by any means,” he told me. “But right now, it’s probably best we don’t talk.”
I’m not sure who suggested that McNabb is an idiot or why Griffin felt the need to make clear that he doesn’t consider McNabb an idiot, but it’s easy to see why Griffin would rather stay away from McNabb: When McNabb left Washington, he did so on bad terms with coach Mike Shanahan, and he did so as an unpopular man with the team’s fans. McNabb had a lot of success earlier in his NFL career, but his year in Washington was a mess, and it was the kind of mess Griffin is wise to avoid.