Washington Redskins Crazy to Pick Up Robert Griffin III's 5th-Year Option

Sometimes, it's best to think of the NFL as a different planet—one on which time moves faster.

So when I hear Washington Redskins general manager Scot McCloughan defend his decision to pick up a fifth-year, $16.2 million option on unreliable quarterback Robert Griffin III—as reported by ESPN.com—by once again stating the good things Griffin did in 2012, it's difficult not to cringe.

"He’s a good football player," McCloughan said during his predraft news conference on Monday, according to ESPN.com's John Keim. "Everyone knows what he did [in 2012] when he was the Offensive Rookie of the Year."

Who cares?

In 2012, Adrian Peterson nearly broke the single-season rushing yards record. Now, it doesn't appear as though the Minnesota Vikings can find a trade partner for a potential Peterson deal.

In 2012, Aldon Smith was an All-Pro with 19.5 sacks. Now, he's only slated to play a key role for the San Francisco 49ers because half of their starting linebacking corps suddenly retired.

In 2012, the Atlanta Falcons were a 13-win NFC powerhouse. Now, they're coming off their second consecutive season with six or fewer victories.

You don't make decisions on players in 2015 regarding the 2016 season based even partially on results from 2012. But this isn't the first time we've heard McCloughan point to Griffin's superb rookie campaign since he started this job in January.

“It’s a tough question to answer because the one thing he did do was he took the team to the playoffs as a rookie and that’s hard to do for any quarterback," McCloughan told reporters when asked about Griffin's future the week he was hired.

Again, who cares?

By all indications, Griffin has spent the last two years regressing. He's been benched in each of the last two Decembers by two different coaching staffs and has shown no major signs of improvement despite a plethora of support from both a coaching and personnel perspective.

In 2014, he had a Pro Bowl left tackle, a rising star at running back and one of the most jacked-up receiving groups in the league. However, Griffin threw just four touchdown passes and six interceptions in seven starts, averaging just 188.2 passing yards per game, which ranked 31st in the NFL.

According to Pro-Football-Reference.com, his 83.7 passer rating since the start of 2013 ranks 20th among 23 quarterbacks who have started at least 20 games.

He holds on to the ball longer than almost anyone else in football, he's sacked and pressured more frequently than his quarterback teammates, he makes far too many dreadful decisions and is no longer the running threat he was as a rookie.

Quarterback	Starts	Rating
Geno Smith	29	71.5
Eli Manning	32	81.3
Joe Flacco	32	81.6
Robert Griffin III	20	83.7
Matthew Stafford	32	84.9

In fact, after scoring six rushing touchdowns in his first six NFL games, Griffin has just two in the 32 games he's played in since then.

With that in mind, it's hard to see how the Redskins could use anything but the 2012 season to rationalize picking up that extremely lucrative 2016 option—especially when the franchise tag continues to be at their disposal in case Griffin does finally get back on track in 2015.

The tag would cost about $4 million more, but the difference between $16.2 million and about $20 million is pretty much negligible once you're convinced you have your franchise quarterback.

And considering that McCloughan even stated during Monday's press conference that the team could still draft a quarterback at fifth overall, it's safe to assume the 'Skins aren't totally convinced right now that Griffin is their franchise QB.

If the Green Bay Packers, Pittsburgh Steelers, Indianapolis Colts or Seattle Seahawks were on the clock with a quarterback at the top of their draft boards, would any of them take him? Of course not, because they have real franchise quarterbacks in their respective primes.

This might merely be a calculated gamble because Griffin's 2016 salary is only guaranteed for injury.

If he fails to deliver again in 2015 and is healthy at the conclusion of the year, the 'Skins can drop him free of charge.

So maybe they're just trying to instill as much confidence in Griffin as they possibly can, which would also explain the team's decision to name him the starting quarterback a ridiculous seven months before the start of the 2015 campaign.

But if this is symbolic, the 'Skins are going out on a hell of a limb simply to get Griffin's head right. He is also one of the most injury-prone and vulnerable players in the league, and if he tears a ligament or suffers any sort of major injury before proving himself in 2015, the Redskins will be on the hook for $16.2 million for a player who will enter 2016 four years removed from football relevance.

If it takes that much of a commitment just to get Griffin to a point at which he's confident, the Redskins might have a bigger problem on their hands.

Frankly, you'd have to think that the real way to light a fire under Griffin would be to make him fight or the starting job and a long-term contract rather than packaging both on a silver platter.

But when former head coach Mike Shanahan tried to flex his muscle, it backfired on all involved parties. And when new head coach Jay Gruden tried to insist that the playing field was even last offseason, Griffin didn't show any signs of improvement.

A move like this would appear to further entitle a player who has seemingly already hijacked this organization with his inflated sense of entitlement.

Far-fetched head games aside, I see no practical reason for the Redskins to do this. They aren't just gambling on Griffin's production, but they're gambling on the health of a man who has suffered four significant injuries (a torn ACL, an ACL sprain, a concussion and a dislocated ankle) in three NFL seasons.

This has Dan Snyder written all over it, which might suggest that the owner is still wielding far too much influence over the front office.

"McCloughan will report to Bruce Allen, but he’ll also reportedly have final say over the roster," wrote Keim in January. "The key is for Allen and owner Dan Snyder to let the man do his job."

If this was a Snyder decision, it might mean the franchise remains trapped in one man's ego-driven football purgatory. If it wasn't, it's an awfully strange way to show that the team is making progress.

Brad Gagnon has covered the NFL for Bleacher Report since 2012.

Follow @Brad_Gagnon