The-Hogs.net - Washington Football Discussion, Redskins to Commanders Era

Shanahan confirmed at his press conference that Griffin will run the first-team offense when the whole team gets together, and he said Griffin is ahead of where the coaches expected him to be right now.

“He’s great,” Shanahan said of Griffin. “I don’t think we had one bust with a play call or coverages the whole minicamp.”

Still, Griffin says he plans to prove he deserves to be the No. 1 quarterback, and not just because he was the No. 2 overall pick.

“Even if you are supposed to be ‘the guy,’ you still start off at the bottom of the barrel,” Griffin said. “Have to work your way up.”

"I don't think we had one bust with a play call or coverages the whole minicamp."

I get all the "start off at the bottom of the barrel" and "work your way up" stuff. But what RGIII neglects to mention is that our barrel is basically empty to begin with. He's obviously not having any trouble rising to the top.

Red_One43 wrote:I think RGIII is trying to change his "selfish" image.

Shanahan: RG3 is the starter, period

It wasn’t a surprise, but it was still headline news.

Mike Shanahan said today that rookie quarterback Robert Griffin III will be the Redskins' starting quarterback when the OTA's start next week.

“We’re going to put him on the first team,” said Shanahan of Griffin, who was the second pick in last week's draft. "He is the starter, period."

Shanahan indicated that they planned to put Griffin straight into the starter’s role as soon as they made the decision to trade in the draft to get him. “Any time you pick a player with the second pick of the draft and you give up two No. 1’s and a No. 2 to move up four spots you’ve got a game plan in mind,” he said.

Because the Redskins gave up all of that to be able to secure the rights to the Heisman Trophy winning quarterback, it makes sense for him to be the starter. But the old-school approach would be for the rookie to have to work his way up the depth chart and perhaps even sit out the first part of the season to learn the intricacies of the position. And Shanahan is known for having an old-school approach at times.

But not in this case. Shanahan went with the more recent approach of letting the new kid learn on the job. Every quarterback taken in the top five of the draft since 2008--Matt Ryan, Mark Sanchez, Matthew Stafford, Sam Bradford, and Cam Newton--was his team’s starter the first game of his rookie season.

Shanahan was effusive in his praise for his new quarterback. “You can see what an incredible athlete he is. I was impressed because on the first day we didn’t have one bust with a formation or play call,” he said. “We’re going to adjust our system to what he feels comfortable and we’ll watch him grow.”

Griffin will be getting plenty of work to see what he feels comfortable with. Shanahan said that when the team started on-field drills on May 14, Griffin will work on one field with first-team offense running plays against the second-team defense. He will get about 80 percent of the snaps there with Jonathan Crompton, who was on the practice squad last year, will get the rest. On another field, the second offense will go up against the starting defense with veteran Rex Grossman and rookie Kirk Cousins each taking about half of the snaps.

Chris Luva Luva wrote:Shanahan confirms that water is wet.

ASHBURN, Va. -- No sense fooling around with a talent like Robert Griffin III. Barely a week after the draft, the Washington Redskins are already proclaiming the Heisman Trophy winner their No. 1 quarterback.

Saying that Griffin has the ability to do things no one else has done in the NFL, coach Mike Shanahan wrapped up a rookie minicamp Sunday by putting RGIII squarely atop the depth chart.

"He's the starter. Period," Shanahan said.

"We're going to adjust our system to what he feels comfortable with," Shanahan said, "and we'll watch him grow and we'll do what we feel like he can do and what he does the best. ... One thing the NFL is not used to is a quarterback with his type of speed and his type of throwing ability, so I think we can do some things that people haven't done."

"I can't come in flamboyantly, and I don't plan to," he said. "Come in and earn the guys' respect. Even if they say you've already got it, you've still got to go out and earn it."

The selection of Cousins raised eyebrows around the league -- no team had taken two quarterbacks in the first four rounds since 1989 -- but Griffin said he was given advanced notice from Shanahan that the Redskins were looking at making such a move to give the team solid, young depth at the position. Griffin and Cousins roomed together at the team hotel this weekend and will likely do so again at training camp.

"We went over the playbook together. There's no issues there," Griffin said. "We're both out there trying to get better, so we're cool. We ate a burrito together."

"Not the same burrito," he added with a laugh. "Just to clear that up."

According to Shanahan, Griffin was everything a coach could love during the five practices that made up the minicamp. The rookie had studied in advance and arrived with a rudimentary knowledge of the playbook.

"You can see what an incredible athlete he is," Shanahan said. "I was impressed because the first day we didn't have one bust with a formation or a play call, and I don't think I ever had that in any minicamp that I've been involved with."

Red_One43 wrote:

Griffin said. "We're both out there trying to get better, so we're cool. We ate a burrito together."

"Not the same burrito," he added with a laugh. "Just to clear that up."

ferryrich wrote:

Red_One43 wrote:

Griffin said. "We're both out there trying to get better, so we're cool. We ate a burrito together."

"Not the same burrito," he added with a laugh. "Just to clear that up."

That bit had me giggling!

cowboykillerzRED wrote:But but Chris.... You acknowledged a troll post, that's practically responding!
Tsk tsk
Lol

Countertrey wrote:

cowboykillerzRED wrote:But but Chris.... You acknowledged a troll post, that's practically responding!
Tsk tsk
Lol

No. It's not.

dftt

Irn-Bru wrote:Nothing wrong with acknowledging the reality that RGIII is on a different plane than Grossman or Cousins. Someone has to get the first-team reps from day one. There is no sense throwing only 1/3rd of them at the man everyone knows will start.

cowboykillerzRED wrote:I'm curious where Crompton is on the depth chart.. first team w rgiii? Hmmmm