Film Study: Robert Griffin III Not The Answer For Los Angeles Rams

The Los Angeles Rams will be exploring all options at quarterback this offseason as it is almost without question that Nick Foles, Case Keenum, or Sean Mannion should not be next year’s starting quarterbacks.

Foles was a disaster after the team Sam Bradford for him, Keenum, while playing respectively, is not the long-term answer, and nobody really knows what they have in Mannion.

One rumor that is floating around that a lot of Rams fans are actually warming up to the idea, is bringing in Robert Griffin III to Los Angeles in free agency. The Washington Redskins confirmed that he will not return to the team next season, making him a free agent.

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While, that may be a good thing if this was the RGIII of his rookie season, but the fact of the matter is, it’s not. This is now a player that destroyed his knee in his first year, therefore has nowhere near the mobility he once had, he is a player that NFL defenses figured out and Griffin never adjusted, and he simply can’t go through his progressions and read a defense.

Griffin hasn’t started a game since the 2014 season as he spent all of last year as a backup, therefore I am going to look at some all-22 film to break down his mistakes.

Play 1

Here’s the first play. As you can see. Griffin has five wide receivers going out for passes, two of which are going on deep corner routes and three underneath as check down. With Lovie Smith coaching the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the team is playing a classic, simple cover-2 defense.

Everything works on the play exactly how it’s supposed to and everybody, and as you can see, everybody is wide open. The wide receivers running corner routes have split the cornerbacks and the safeties and the linebackers have left everything in front of them leaving the underneath routes open.

So, what does Griffin do on this play? He left the pocket to his right moving into pressure and threw the ball away before taking a brutal shot.

Play 2

This is the same game and the Redskins are now down in the red zone looking to score. As you can see, Griffin’s tight end is open and he is looking right at him. Instead of throwing the ball, Griffin panics, rolls to his right directly into the pass rush and takes a sack. Griffin on this play actually has a huge rush lane if he wanted to take off but he doesn’t, he takes a terrible sack instead.

Play 3

This play comes from 2103, one year after his rookie of the year season, against the Philadelphia Eagles. This is when it all went bad for Griffin as proven by this play. The Redskins are driving down the field looking to tie the game with a third and one. With 40 seconds one the clock, situational football says you get the first down then spike the ball to stop the clock.

On this play, Griffin, as we would later find out, calls the wrong pass protection, and then instead of throwing the ball away, he throws an interception. The designed play was all about timing. As you can see from the below photo, he has Garcon and the ball should be out of his hands, but instead Griffin looks away and takes a blind shot at the end zone.

These aren’t difficult NFL passes just simply Griffin not understanding his progressions. Griffin’s has  fundamental issues that will prevent him from playing the quarterback position effectively at an NFL level.

Not being able to use his legs the way he once used to, the Redskins quarterback as struggled as a passer. A quarterback that struggles passing the football shouldnt be something that you want. His QBR has gone from a 75.6 in his rookie season to 33.5 in 2014.

At this point, Griffin’s 20 touchdown to five interception rookie season can’t be thought of any more than Nick Foles’ 27 touchdowns and two interceptions 2013 season. NFL defenses figured out their flaws and they never adjusted.

As seen in the above film, RGIII is unable to recognize the basic throws and is unable to see the field. When he’s had open receivers  instead of throwing it to them he will try and rely on his legs that aren’t what they used to be or throw the ball away. This is a quarterback that simply is unable to go through his progressions and out that with his bad footwork and fundamentals, and you dont have a starting NFL quarterback.

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A change of scenery is not going to help Griffin figure out the fundamentals of the quarterback position. A change of scenery is not going to bring Griffin’s knees back to even close to what they used to be.

Jeff Fisher has not been able to develop a single offensive player while he’s been with the Rams, how are we supposed to expect him to develop RGIII? Because that is exactly what is going to have to happen.

Whoever signes RGIII is going to have to start over, start from the basics. We’ve seen what Fisher did with Foles who was a competent quarterback in Philadelphia, how is Fisher supposed to fix a broken RGIII?

The Rams need a quarterback, but they need a quarterback who is going to be able to lead the team and give them a chance at the postseason. Aside from slightly better mobility, Griffin is no better than Foles and an RGIII experiment could go worse than the Foles experiment did.

We may not have confidence in Fisher drafting a quarterback in the first round and developing him, but it is their best shot to find their franchise guy.