Robert Griffin III hasn’t found a new NFL home since the Browns cut him in the offseason, but he says he could have played for the Cardinals and Ravens.
“I had an offer from Arizona, and also from Baltimore,” Griffin said on ESPN’s SC6.
So why did he turn down those offers? Griffin said the Cardinals had too many quarterbacks on the roster and he didn’t think he would get any practice time as a fourth-stringer. And he said Baltimore made him an offer right before its preseason opener against his original team, Washington, and wanted him to start in that game. Griffin said he didn’t think he would have adequate time to prepare in the Ravens’ offense, so he turned it down.
Griffin understood that he might have been turning down his only offers.
“I had interest in the offseason,” Griffin said. “It just wasn’t the right fit and I had to make that decision for myself to say, ‘Look, if I don’t accept this offer, there’s a chance I won’t play football this year.’ And I would talk to my family, and I was OK with that, OK with the fact that it might happen.”
Griffin did say, however, that he would love to sign with a team right now and hopes a playoff contender that needs a quarterback will consider him.
“I love football. I miss the game,” Griffin said. “I am ready. So I haven’t given up on 2017 yet. There are some teams that need help and may need help going into the playoffs.”
But it’s hard to understand why a team that needs help in the playoffs would call Griffin now, if he was telling the Ravens four months ago that he needs adequate practice time to be ready for a preseason game. If Griffin wanted to play in the NFL in 2017, his best bet was to accept one of those offers in the offseason and prove himself in training camp. And his best bet going forward will be not to turn down any offers in 2018.