A contingent of Washington front office executives and coaches want to move on from quarterback Robert Griffin III, but club ownership is squashing any efforts to get rid of the mercurial signal-caller, according to Adam Schefter and Dianne Marie Russini of ESPN. Washington has even had several conversations with other clubs about trading RGIII, but haven’t found any interest.
The main barrier to a trade, per the ESPN scribes, is Griffin’s contract, which calls for him to earn about $6.72MM in 2015 (an acquiring team would only be responsible for his base salary of about $3.27MM) and $16.1MM in 2016 (guaranteed for injury only). Given RGIII’s injury lengthy injury history, it’s not surprising that other teams would shy away from a potential deal given that an injury guarantee is involved. Moreover, it’s unclear whether Washington ownership would even allow the team’s executives to move forward with a Griffin trade, if one were on the table.
Because of that onerous contract, Washington has no interest in inserting Griffin into a game, per Schefter and Russini. Griffin is currently dealing with a concussion, and given that a club can’t cut an injured player, Washington doesn’t want to play Griffin and risk further injury. Plus, if RGIII suffered a major injury, his 2016 guarantee would kick in, further locking him in Washington. Therefore, Griffin is not expected to be the team’s starting quarterback, meaning that Kirk Cousins looks to be the team’s No. 1 QB.