Robert Griffin III is an egocentric QB with no self-awareness
Robert Griffin III is an egocentric QB with no self-awareness
There’s been plenty of debate about Robert Griffin III’s recent comments that he considers himself the best player in the NFL. Many — most? — have mocked the Washington Redskins quarterback, who, if someone is feeling very, very generous, might be put in the top 20 of NFL QBs. A handful of Internet contrarians have defended them even whilewalking back the comments later. We were somewhere in the middle. A quarterback, or any athlete for that matter, should have the self-belief that they’re the best. You don’t get to the top of your profession by questioning your abilities. But on the other hand, Griffin’s insistence on boosting his own ego in public is preposterous when he’s still in a quarterback battle with Kirk Freakin’ Cousins. Believe what you want, but maybe keep it to yourself?
Griffin just doesn’t get it. He confirmed that on Tuesday with a statement on the firestorm about his original interview. “It’s unfortunate my name keeps getting used for headlines, for people to click on stories,” he said with a complete lack of self-awareness, apparently unaware that the only reason such clickbait exists is because he created it. You don’t see anyone writing the same thing about Jay Cutler, Jameis Winston or Matthew Stafford, because they seem to understand that being a mediocre-to-decent quarterback who speaks like he’s Peyton Manning is certainly going to pique the interest of millions of NFL fans. Though the interesting part is that Manning doesn’t speak that way either. Neither does Rodgers, Luck or Brady — the best are content being the best. They don’t need to say so in an interview with a local news affiliate.
With both his quotes Griffin shows he’s learned nothing about media and perception in his four seasons in the league. You could accept it when was a rookie. It could be tolerated when he was “all in for Week 1.” But four years with four slogans is the height of misplaced vanity. That this year’s is “talk small, play big” is an irony surely lost on Griffin. The idea that he can sit for an interview, spout off ridiculous quotes and believe that no one is going to call him on it is the worst kind of naivety. “I’m the best, but don’t challenge me on it,” is what he’s basically saying. Then, when the media pounces, which is what happens when it’s August and there’s nothing better to talk about, he blames the press. It’s not a good look.
If we accept that Robert Griffin III is a smart guy, which I do, it only leads to one conclusion: He’s a football narcissist who loves to talk about himself. He wants those questions. He craves them. He can’t wait to answer them. He wants everybody to know what he thinks of himself. Yet through it all, he doesn’t realize it’s tremendously off-putting, even to a fanbase that practically deified him as recently as 32 months ago.
Part of this is on Redskins leadership, a term used with exaggerated eye-rolling. The lack of leadership in the organization seems to encourage its so-called franchise player to speak this way then, when the obvious blowback occurs, it prevents him from talking to the press the next day. You could call the Redskins a Mickey Mouse organization, but last I checked, Mickey was doing pretty well for himself.
The quotes don’t mean Griffin can’t be a good quarterback or that he’s a bad guy, player or teammate. They’re just words, after all. They merely show a man’s remarkable inability to read the temperature of the room — the room in this case being a sports media that loves when athletes utter stupid quotes that overstate their own abilities.
