Three thoughts on Robert Griffin III signing his rookie contract:
I.
Griffin really wasn’t missing much by not being at Redskins Park. The rules allowing teams to have rookies report as early as July 5 just went into effect this year so it’s not something that Cam Newton, Andy Dalton, Matt Ryan, Joe Flacco or any other rookie quarterback had before their successful rookie seasons.
Still, he was missing time where he could go over the playbook and watch film with the coaching staff and it’s certainly better that he is there than pumping iron on his own and tweeting about his new adidas ad.
II.
It looks like Ben Dogra, Griffin’s agent, “won” the standoff with the Redskins. Mike Florio is reporting that there is no offset language in RG3’s contract. That means that if the Redskins release him before the deal is up they will owe him the full amount of the guaranteed contract regardless of what another team might pay him.
Of course, there is exactly zero chance that the Redskins will cut Griffin in the next four years so the offset language meant nothing to him. It did mean something to Dogra, who can tell future clients that he was able to avoid offsets. It also matters for the rest of the top eight picks, none of whom has signed and can now point to RG3’s deal and say they shouldn’t have offset clauses either.
III.
Per the CBA, the Redskins will not be able to renegotiate or extend Griffin’s contract until he has played for three years. There is a team option for a fifth year and the pay for that season would be based on the salaries of the top 10 quarterbacks in the NFL. One would hope that if Griffin is even modestly successful he and the Redskins will have a new deal in place even before that comes into play.
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