Robert Griffin III: A Coaching Breakdown of His Game

I am naturally skeptical of anyone that rises as fast as Robert Griffin, and that is particularly true of a QB.  However, Griffin was already a top QB on my draft board before the 2011 season. 

Griffin is the most athletic QB in the draft I have ever seen, and I have been following the draft since 1960.

Awareness

Griffin has great play recognition.  He will anticipate a receiver coming open and wait until he does to throw.  He will throw deep when there is a penalty on the D to take maximum advantage of it. 

He also has above average pocket awareness.  He feels the pressure in the pocket and will adjust to it.  He is very effective moving in the pocket to avoid pressure and can quickly reset his feet to make an accurate throw.  He can throw off balance, but squares his shoulders to insure maximum accuracy.

 Having a below average offensive line, Griffin has a lot of experience dealing with pressure. 

He has the guts to stand in and take the hit to throw.  Under pressure, he keeps eyes down field to look for open receivers.  Griffin has the arm strength to roll to his left, square his shoulders and keep the throw accurate across his body.

 He is not easily fooled by coverage. 

The ball gets to the receiver so fast that safeties don’t have the time to recover and get involved in the coverage, but Griffin reads coverage on the fly.  There are times that he is slow to make reads and takes unnecessary sacks, but he has learned from his experience and does this less than he did in 2010.

Passing Mechanics

Griffin has very quick release with the best arm strength in the draft. 

He has outstanding balance—he recovers quickly when play breaks down and throws accurately down field.  Usually QBs with above average arm strength do not have the touch to throw the check down catchable.

His short pass is very catchable.

 His footwork is inconsistent. 

When he is inaccurate, it is often because his footwork let him down.  He has no experience with three, five and seven-step drops.  He is extremely intelligent and coachable, and is more than capable of learning correct footwork.

 He is very solid on the upper body movement. 

Griffin naturally throws overhand, but adjusts these throws to avoid getting passes blocked.  He is also a natural at squaring the shoulders to throw.  That is critical to long and intermediate throw accuracy.  He holds the ball high looking for the open guy and has one of the quickest deliveries I have seen in recent years.

He does not anticipate throws, but very few college QBs do.  In the NFL, he has the accuracy to anticipate the WR getting open and throw the ball before the last cut of the receiver. 

The O game plan at Baylor did not involve that type of throw.

But he has the speed to get the ball into the hands of the receiver in time to get a run after the catch.  He has the accuracy to throw the WRs open and he makes back shoulder throws and under throws to lead the WR away from the coverage.

Running

In the NFL, running QBs tend to get hurt. 

While Griffin is the size of a franchise RB, he needs to run a lot less than he did in college.  As a runner, he has great vision with very quick change of direction.  He is smart enough to get out of bounds running to avoid the big hit.  He does not take too many big hits, and adjusts his body to limit impact by tacklers. 

He does make some bad reads on zone runs, but again, he will learn from his mistakes.  He is an excellent ball handler and his play-action fake is outstanding.

He is a patient runner that will allow blocks to develop.  His vision allows him to plan cuts three moves ahead. 

Griffin has 4.38 speed in the 40 with an explosively quick first step.  With his vision of the field, he gets to the open field fast and will not be caught from behind.  He does not fumble often but does not always cover the ball in traffic.

Mental Aspects of His Play

I love his mental strength. 

He was playing with one of the worst defenses in college football, and yet he has the attitude that he needs to score a TD on every possession.  He never seems to get nervous. 

Griffin has the No. 1 most important quality as a QB—he is clutch. 

His comeback against Oklahoma leading the team to a TD in the last 57 seconds after his D gave up a late TD was just one example.  He is never too far behind to make a comeback.

Griffin was the leader of his team.  I have always preferred QBs from lesser college powers.  QBs out of Ohio State or USC almost always have the best players on the field.  At Baylor, Griffin very seldom had the best roster.

Griffin is not a West Coast Offense guy, but he graduated and got his Masters in four years at Baylor while playing football for three seasons.  He is very bright, and he is exactly the kind of guy to be the face of any franchise.

 

Bottom Line

The Browns will have to trade up to get him.  In my opinion, Griffin will prove out to be worth whatever it costs.  There are the other four teams that might try to trade up to get Griffin. 

Redskins

Head coach Mike Shanahan has had a couple of bad seasons.  They pick sixth.  Owner Dan Snyder is known for his lack of patience—wants to win now and will pay whatever it takes to do that. 

Snyder may try to get Colt QB Peyton Manning.  If Manning goes there, the price for the second overall pick will be significantly lower.  I would guess the Skins would give the Rams their first, second and third picks this season and first next year to move from six to two. 

That would make the price too high for GM Tom Heckert to consider.

Dolphins

The new Miami HC is Joe Philbin, who was the 2011 OC of the Packers. 

My guess is he will want Pack backup QB Matt Flynn as his starter.  If so, the Fish will be out of the running for Griffin.  If Philbin passes on Flynn, the Browns should not consider him either.  Miami has the eighth pick.  If they don’t go for either Flynn or Manning, they would be a player in the auction for the second pick.

Seahawks

The Hawks have a gaggle of QBs but none of them can move the ball. 

While they may be a player in the chase for the second, the Rams may not be willing to go down to 12 for their first pick.  If the Hawks get involved, they will have to offer much more than anyone else to win the deal.

Vikings

I realize the team just drafted a QB in the first round last year.  But they have not been very happy with their pick and would likely take Griffin with the third pick if he is there.  They would then try to deal Christian Ponder to one of the teams that needs a QB.

Browns

I doubt the Browns will be willing to give up what it will take to get Griffin, but they should unless it involves three first-round picks.  Manning being released will help keep the cost down unless he goes to the Cardinals.  Even if he does go there, the release of QB Kevin Kolb will be a possibility for one of the teams looking for a new QB.

That is what I think.  Tell us what you think.

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Bill Smith is a former coach of several semi-pro teams, has done color on radio for college football and basketball and has scouted talent. He edits http://fryingpansports.com.  He has also published several novels on http://www.eBooks-Library.com/Contemporary/ and a non-fiction work at http://www.merriam-press.com/.