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Robert Griffin III was supposed to be the future of what were then the Washington Redskins.
Fresh off a Heisman Trophy win at Baylor, he was the No. 2 overall pick behind Andrew Luck and wowed in his Rookie of the Year campaign.
However, he was never the same after tearing his ACL in a playoff game. Griffin started just 20 more games with Washington before heading to the Cleveland Browns and Baltimore Ravens, and retired after the 2020 season.
It’s obvious that Griffin would rather his tenure in the nation’s capital have gone differently, and the organization has done a total 180 since he left, with new owners and not one, but two name changes.
But at the end of the day, the organization “changed my life forever.”
“I root for the Washington Commanders because, no matter what happened, the Washington Redskins, Football Team, Commanders changed my life forever. And the fans changed my life forever,” Griffin told Fox News Digital in a recent interview. “I love them, they’ve shown love to me and I appreciate them. From that standpoint, I’ll always be a Washington Commander fan, and I’m rooting for Jayden Daniels.”
The fans still root for Griffin, and he was outside the nation’s capital to give back to the community. But it doubly hit closer to home, as Griffin, a child of two military veterans, partnered with USAA on its Positive Steps program.
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“It’s everything. Military families, military brats in the military community are often forgotten about, but these are people that are sacrificing everything for this country. They’re putting the lives and freedom of other people’s families before their own,” Griffin said. “And that, to me, can’t be talked about enough, because it takes a special kind of person to be willing to go out there just so that me and you can go watch a football game on Saturday or Sunday at the stadium.
“That to me is very, very important because I’ll never forget where I came from, and I am the son of two military veterans who served 21 and 13 years in the military and gave everything toward this country and sacrificed being in war zones so that we could all experience the freedoms that we do. So that positive step, for me, is always acknowledging where I came from and always giving back to the communities that have shaped my life.”
Griffin, Daniels and running back Mike Thomas in 1975 are the only players in Washington history to be named Rookie of the Year. Now, it sure seems like Griffin will be able to watch Daniels, as a fan, for a long while.
“We should continue to celebrate this young man. He’s doing things that have never been done before and giving the Commanders a franchise quarterback outlook,” Griffin said. “I think he can be the first franchise quarterback they’ve had since [Joe] Theismann. We should support him through all his ups and downs because this young man is special.”
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