Will RGIII Be Physically and Mentally Ready for the Upcoming Season?

Robert Griffin III led the Washington Redskins to a surprising 10-6 record last year and even more surprising playoff berth. However, he went down in the playoffs with a controversial knee injury (should he have even been in the game?), and has had a torrid offseason ever since, including a wedding registry that was crashed by Redskins fans looking to buy the QB gifts and a seemingly endless string of commercials. RGIII’s off the field activities recently drew the ire of retired quarterback Donovan McNabb.

“It’s too much right now; it’s just too much,” McNabb said. “I get some of things he’s doing to draw attention to himself: the Adidas commercials, going out and enjoying the life of a young, famous NFL quarterback. I understand RG has a lot of stuff going on. But if you’re coming off ACL surgery, you don’t need to be having a press conference at OTAs. Every week? Really? It becomes a circus, a sideshow. It takes away from the focus of what those sessions are supposed to be about: the team.”

“One thing Andy Reid did is he never let the injured guys become the story if they were off to the side at practice,” McNabb continued. “He thought it took away from the guys who were grinding and practicing every day. So when I look up on TV and see him up there talking all the time about how great he’s doing — or doing jumping jacks or someone else talking about his supernatural healing powers — I wonder to myself: Is this about selling tickets to the fans or what? I don’t blame him. They’re letting him do it. But at some point, it can be counterproductive. You can set yourself up for more criticism later.”

However, despite all of these distractions, RGIII was one of the best rookie quarterbacks in recent memory, completing 65.6 percent of his passes for 20 touchdowns and just five interceptions. Oh, and he also happens to be the reigning NFL Rookie of the Year. However, the bigger concern for Redskins’ fans should be RGIII’s knee injury, a torn ACL and LCL he suffered during his team’s playoff loss to the Seattle Seahawks.

“Yeah, it’s tough for me to talk about it,” Griffin said of the injury. “I cried, real men cry. It doesn’t matter and I moved on. As soon as we finished our little cry festival, I put the date of the first week in my phone and that was my goal since then. You know, the doctors have tried to keep me down and keep me from doing so many things, and I appreciate that from them because that is what they are supposed to do, while at the same time, I have to push through it because that is what you have to do with an injury like this.”

RGIII’s surgeon, Dr. James Andrews, has openly praised his patient’s recovery, and believes that the versatile young QB will be ready for the start of the season.

“RGIII is one those superhumans. First patient I ever had like that was Bo Jackson. And recently I, of course, had Adrian Peterson, who is also superhuman. They have an unbelievable ability to recover, whereas a normal human being may not be able to recover.”

Even though the season over/under win totals have not been released yet, it’s truly a safe bet to wager that the Washington Redskins will build on their success last year. Even if RGIII has to sit a few games (and that isn’t even looking likely at this point), his backup, Kirk Cousins, proved more than capable during game play last season. RGIII may lead a whirlwind life off the field, but he’ll be ready to earn bettors some serious dough on Sundays when he returns.