As other teams were saying goodbye to beloved training camp characters (Charles James in Houston) or marginal quarterbacks who lost their jobs (Matt Cassel in Buffalo), Washingtonians were arguing whether the Redskins should save a roster spot for a guy who only recently was being compared to Elway, Obama and Gandhi. The decision, for now, was yes: Even if Griffin had been cleared of his lingering concussion by an independent neurologist, it appears he would have made the team.
Now comes the scary part.
The absolute best-case for Washington's season is that Griffin doesn't play a single down, that he holds his clipboard ably and true, celebrates victories, mourns losses and never enters a game. Griffin on the field would activate injury paranoia (see below), consume the headlines and cause the team's fan base to continue devouring itself. Griffin as a quiet and unused backup would not.
So the "Go Catch Your Dream" scenario involves the team's most prominent player doing exactly nothing for 17 weeks: no snaps, no hashtags, no completions, no drama. With all due respect to Griffin, that's a role Colt McCoy could fill by himself.
And this sleepy scenario would require the Redskins finally to be blessed with the simplest, most drama-free result available in the NFL's playbook, with everything going according to plan. Maybe Donald Trump also will be demure and understated at the next Republican debate.
Now imagine some of the alternate results. It's okay. We're just pretending. You can put down that drink.
Say, for example, that Griffin suffers an injury in practice, a non-contact calamity like the dislocated ankle that scuttled his 2014 season. Having picked up Griffin's fifth-year contract option — fully guaranteed for injury — the Redskins would suffer a $16 million salary-cap problem if Griffin were unable to pass a physical by the start of the league year in March. That issue alone had many analysts calling for the team and player to part ways.
Or say new starter Kirk Cousins struggles in his first few games. Sure, "it's Kirk's team," as Coach Jay Gruden said last week, but you don't think Cousins would hear those Adidas-branded footsteps? You don't think some fans would want to see the former rookie of the year, the guy whose jersey still fills FedEx Field and who said at least three times this summer that he was the team's best quarterback?
Even as the coach discussed Griffin during his Sunday news conference — "we kept him because we thought he was one of our top 53 guys, and we like to have three quarterbacks in the building," Gruden said — fans were posting comments in the team's live video feed calling for Griffin to play. Among the biggest knocks on Cousins last season were his poor body language and fragile confidence; now imagine he trots into the tunnel at halftime as thousands of fans are chanting "R-G-3."
"The minute Kirk makes a mistake, we both know FedEx Field will all of a sudden want RGIII," Clinton Portis said on NFL Network this weekend. "I think the city is torn apart between Redskins fans and RGIII fans. . . . So keeping him around, it could become a distraction if Kirk doesn't go out and do what everyone expects him to do."
So by keeping Griffin, you could cripple your 2016 budget or dent your starting quarterback's confidence. Neither of those, though, would be the worst result.
Because imagine if the Redskins actually needed to start Griffin, whether because of performance or injury. If Griffin failed, you again would question his place on the roster. But if the former franchise quarterback excelled — or even just played okay — there would be Pot Roast-sized questions raised about Gruden and his staff. Why did they move on so quickly from a first-round quarterback who actually could play? Why did they make a switch after six months of supporting Griffin and less than a half of preseason action? Why didn't they try to make things work with the quarterback they were hired to fix?
After the events of the past two weeks, a high-performing Griffin would cast doubt on Gruden's decision-making and raise serious questions about his coaching future in Washington. And so it would be impossible not to wonder whether it would be in the coach's best interest for this particular quarterback to succeed on the field.
All this without even mentioning the way television cameras will find Griffin on the sidelines on a weekly basis, the awkwardness that could ensue if Griffin is asked to run the scout team on a weekly basis or the potential for Griffin's intern to make another social-media misstep.
Could there be at least one good football reason to keep Griffin? How about this: a desire to control the quarterback's future destination. Here's an ownership nightmare worse than free parking: Griffin leaves Washington, is signed by the Eagles or the Cowboys and winds up helping Chip Kelly or Jason Garrett beat the Redskins. By holding on to Griffin, you preserve a chance at recouping a draft pick at the trade deadline, and you keep him out of the hands of your rivals.
But that's operating out of fear: of Griffin helping Jerry Jones, of being mocked for a draft-day whiff, of giving up something for nothing. That fear should have been erased when Gruden pushed all those No. 8 chips into the center of the table. That gave Washington the perfect chance to move on from three years of drama.
The Redskins kept 52 players they can use without reprising the histrionics of 2012, 2013 and 2014. If employee No. 53 makes it onto the field, get ready for an encore.
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