Washington has made it clear that it is finished with Robert Griffin III, but that does not mean the rest of the NFL is. As he continues to heal, rebuilding his body back to the level he had it during a healthy 2012 season, many are wondering who will step up and take a chance on the former rookie of the year.
Per NFL Media Insider Ian Rapoport, the list of teams potentially interested in Griffin include the Eagles, Cowboys, Texans and Saints, or whichever team current New Orleans coach Sean Payton will be with in 2016. Assuming Washington takes trade calls, or simply wiggles out of his 2016 option -- which is guaranteed for injury only -- and releases him, Griffin will escape a toxic situation and start his career over again.
The Eagles make perfect sense. Coach Chip Kelly will tell anyone listening that the only way to get a top-tier quarterback outside of the draft is to capitalize on an injury and move in. It's what he did with Sam Bradford last offseason in an experiment that has yet to completely play out. It's what Payton did with Drew Brees and what the Broncos did with Peyton Manning. Griffin's movement skills would also bring a little more liveliness to Kelly's offense. His injury history would be less concerning than Bradford's, though not by much.
The Texans also make sense. Coach Bill O'Brien is great with young quarterbacks and he could bring Griffin back to Texas and away from a media spotlight that set Griffin up to fail from the beginning. In Houston, he will have a chance and the opportunity to work with one of the best young wideouts in football, DeAndre Hopkins.
The Cowboys and Payton are a different matter altogether. If Payton decides to move on from New Orleans, he'll be looking to pull off a similar coup to the Brees trade and start fresh. Or he'd just be looking for a suitable backup for Brees that could be groomed into a potential replacement.
Cowboys owner Jerry Jones has always liked dual-threat quarterbacks, and if he doesn't make a push to secure Johnny Manziel as Tony Romo's backup, perhaps Griffin is the answer. Jones himself admitted to being "too cute" when stacking Romo's backups on the depth chart. A move for Griffin would show he's not fooling around.
As disastrous as Griffin's tailspin was in Washington, it's not his final chapter. There are 31 other NFL coaches, and probably half of them have a good idea of how to use Griffin to their advantage.
