Here is what you need to know on this Friday, February 15, 25 days before the start of NFL free agency.
RG3 a driver of news
Even when RG3 isn’t making news, he’s driving the news.
At one point on Thursday morning, three of the five most recent stories on the top of our corporate cousins’ Pro Football Talk site were tangentially related to the Redskins’ QB and the offense that he is helping to popularize. And this was before we had stories about Griffin's knee rehab progress from an unnamed source and from GM Bruce Allen.
--Tennessee Titans offensive coordinator Dowell Loggains says that he will look at installing some of the read option offense in order to take advantage of third-year quarterback Jake Locker’s mobility.
“We’re going to do just like every team in the league and look at clubs like Seattle and Washington. We’re still very early in the process of building this offense, but we’re definitely gonna look at all that stuff, just like every team in the NFL is gonna do,” Loggains said.
The word before the 2011 draft was that Mike Shanahan was very interested in drafting Locker. However, the Titans took him with the eighth pick before the Redskins had a chance to take him with the 10th pick. Perhaps we would have seen the pistol and read option in Washington a year sooner than we did.
--Other teams aren’t just looking to clone RG3’s offense, they’re looking for clones of Griffin, or at least carbon copies. Mike Florio reports that at next week’s NFL Combine teams will be looking to see if quarterbacks have the athletic ability needed to operate out of the pistol and execute the read option.
The 40-yard dash, the 20-yard shuttle run, the 60-yard shuttle run, and the three-cone drill are the major indicators of speed and quickness and agility. The vertical jump and the broad jump add to the total package of physical ability unrelated to the throwing of a football.
Even if all 32 teams aren’t necessarily looking to change to a read option offense, many of them might be looking for a quarterback who can do a reasonable imitation of RG3 or Colin Kaepernick in practice. Mobility could be the tiebreaker if a team is considering two developmental QB’s.
--The other item isn’t about RG3-type quarterbacks but it does contain some pertinent information regarding his knee. A personal trainer for Darrelle Revis, who had surgery to repair a torn ACL in his left knee on Oct. 16, says that the Jets cornerback will be ready to get back to work in April, when the Jets’ offseason conditioning program starts. That would be six months after the surgery.
“For me, I think I’m thumbs up in April, I’m going to get the green light [that Revis is ready for on-field work] in April,” on-field trainer Will Sullivan said. “The great thing is, there’s been no setbacks, it’s been a great surgery, he’s doing the right things — he hasn’t done too much, he hasn’t done too little.”
Now before we say that if Revis can get back on the field in six months there’s no reason that Griffin can’t, le’s look at a few key differences. This was Revis’ first ACL repair while Griffin underwent his second. Also Griffin had to have his LCL repaired while Revis suffered just the one injury. And being on the field seven months after surgery in April, when there is no contact allowed, is quite different from playing in a game.
Still, if a cornerback can be back on the football field doing drills and getting ready for the season six months after reconstructive knee surgery that has to be an encouraging sign for RG3 being ready on the earlier side of what is being predicted for his return rather than the latter end.
Tandler talks combine, possible roster moves
In case you missed it
- Tarik El-Bashir covered Bruce Allen’s appearance at the groundbreaking ceremony for the Redskins’ new training camp facility in Richmond. Here’s what Allen had to say about training camp, RG3’s recovery, and Fletcher, Davis, and more.
- Redskins sign Patriots NT Ron Brace
- Redskins growing confident RG3 will start the season opener
- Is the cap penalty a dead issue?
Days until: NFL Combine 6; Start of league year 25; OTA’s start 89
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