Redskins linebacker London Fletcher only has a little time left to share his wisdom.
And as he prepares for his pending retirement, he wants to help his highest-profile teammate learn to do something basic — breathe in, then out.
“There are a lot of people that pulls and tugs at him, but I think really this a time for him to just kind of exhale,” Fletcher said of quarterback Robert Griffin III, via Mike Jones of the Washington Post. “If you look at it at the end of the year, he hurt himself, he didn’t have a chance to really exhale. This is a time for him to exhale, take a step back, re-evaluate different things and say, ‘Hey, what do I need to get to be the player that he knows he can, be the player that everybody knows he can be?’ That would be my advice for him.
“Really just take some time to clear his head and really decompress from everything that’s happened because he’s really been on a whirlwind if you think about it since his senior year at Baylor, or his last year at Baylor.”
Fletcher has occupied the locker next to Griffin’s, and that’s hardly accidental. As one of the most respected players in the league, he’s the kind of voice Griffin needs to be hearing. It seems that Griffin is listening, especially as reports mount from everything to the way Griffin responds to coaching to the role of his family.
“Fletch told me just to just to exhale and let it all go,” Griffin said. “You have to let the people that know you defend you. You can’t try to defend yourself or your family in the situation. It’s unfortunate. People won’t understand that. But people that know me, know my parents, know my family, know what goes on around here — they have to defend me.”
Applying the lessons Fletcher’s imparting will be important to Griffin when his on-field career continues next year — without the wise neighbor to offer him advice.
