When a report surfaced Saturday that Dr. James Andrews was recommending that Redskins quarterback Robert Griffin III sit out the first few weeks of the regular season to allow his knee more time to heal, the team acted fast to deny it.
Philadelphia radio and TV reporter Howard Eskin wrote on Twitter on Saturday, citing unnamed sources, that Dr. Andrews had recommended to the Redskins that they not play Griffin until after their Week Five bye, which would mean Griffin wouldn’t get on the field until Week Six at Dallas on October 13. Eskin added, however, that Redskins coach Mike Shanahan was expected to play Griffin in Week One regardless of Andrews’ recommendation.
The Redskins quickly put out word that the report was false. Although the team didn’t make any official statement, multiple Redskins beat writers heard from an unnamed team source who denied the report. Chick Hernandez of CSNWashington.com, John Keim of ESPN and Mike Jones of the Washington Post all took to Twitter to say that a Redskins source had told them the report is false.
Shanahan, who took some criticism for his handling of Griffin’s knee injury in the Redskins’ playoff loss to the Seahawks, has insisted all offseason that he will follow the recommendations of the medical staff in determining when to put Griffin back on the field. So it’s no surprise that the “unnamed team source” quickly spoke out to say that the Redskins wouldn’t do anything to jeopardize Griffin’s health.