Jay Gruden Comments on Robert Griffin III's Talents, Skills He Must Improve

Quarterback Robert Griffin III may not be in Washington anymore, but that's not stopping the team's head coach from giving the former Offensive Rookie of the Year some advice.  

Speaking at Wednesday's league meeting, Jay Gruden said his former quarterback is going to have to work on his dropback passing to resurrect his career, per Michael David Smith of Pro Football Talk.

“He can do the zone read, he can run the bootleg and all that stuff that makes him effective outside the pocket, but I think eventually he’s going to have to continue to master the dropback passing game in the NFL, which he needs to continue to do and he will do,” Gruden said.

Griffin rushed for 815 yards, seven touchdowns and a league-high 6.8 yards per carry during his 2012 rookie campaign but following a severe knee injury had just 665 on the ground the next two seasons while averaging only 5.4 yards per attempt.

Year	Team	GP-GS	Comp.-Att.	Yards	TD	INT	Rushing Yards	Rushing TD
2012	Washington	15-15	258-393	3,200	20	5	815	7
2013	Washington	13-13	274-456	3,203	16	12	489	0
2014	Washington	9-7	147-214	1,694	4	6	176	1
Totals		37-35	679-1063	8,097	40	23	1,480	8

His game regressed so much that he did not play one snap in 2015 with Washington, giving the starting position away to Kirk Cousins. Washington then released RG3, and he has yet to sign with a team.

Smith said the Cleveland Browns appear to have the inside track on signing him, but Arizona Cardinals head coach Bruce Arians gave his thoughts about Griffin's future on Wednesday.

The coach said his issues have nothing to do with his playing ability and more to do with how he went from hero to backup during his time in Washington, per Mary Kay Cabot of Cleveland.com (h/t A.J. Perez of USA Today).

“For me right now, it would have to be going back and looking in his eyes and finding out, are the scars too deep?” Arians said. “But talent-wise? He's got all the talent in the world."

Both coaches make great points, and Griffin's success most likely depends on both his playing ability and his attitude. While he might be a long shot as of now, Griffin's proved he can play at a high level in the NFL and could end up being a nice roster addition to a team looking for help at the quarterback position, even if that means being the backup for now.