Robert Griffin III was unhappy with one of Washington’s radio personalities. Griffin claimed Grant Paulsen of 106.7 the Fan was “chasing clout” for sharing a clip of the former QB talking about the New York Jets quarterback situation in the aftermath of Aaron Rodgers’ season-ending injury.
Griffin appeared on ESPN’s GetUp. He mentioned how some players such as Carson Wentz, Cam Newton, Colin Kaepernick, and himself are not in the NFL because they cannot play football but because they are “distractions.”
Griffin claimed an NFL GM told him, “I know you can still play. You look like you can still play. But if we bring you in, it’s going to be a distraction for our starting quarterback.”
The edit Paulsen shared pinpointed the immediate reaction of ESPN analysts Dominique Foxworth and Dan Graziano.
The edit didn’t show the conclusion of Griffin’s take, where he mentioned no one available is a better option than the Jets’ current quarterback Zach Wilson.
Still, the statement baffled some. Kyle Gelling of Barstools captioned, “RG3 just tried to low-key pitch himself to the New York Jets on live TV.”
Griffin only went after Paulsen. Of course, Paulsen has been a DC sports radio personality for years, covering the Washington Commanders, the team Griffin started his NFL career before becoming an ESPN analyst.
Some onlookers understood the point Griffin was trying to stress. Others focused on the “distraction” part. And a group of people who believed Griffin tried to throw his hat in the ring.
Grant Paulsen responded to RG3
Paulsen, who shared the edit without a caption, explained his take Tuesday during The Grant and Danny Show.
“That is not the point of the clip I posted – I don’t know what the larger conversation was because I wasn’t watching it, nor was that the clip; the clip was just his suggestion that the reason why neither he nor Kaepernick are in the NFL, or Wentz isn’t in the NFL, is that they’re too famous, essentially,” GP said. “I don’t think that’s the case for Kaepernick seven years after he last played, or Griffin 11 years after his unbelievably impressive 2012 season – I think those guys aren’t in the league because of injury history, and they just didn’t play well enough for a little while – but the fact that they’re celebrities…I don’t do celebrity backups, and a lot of teams don’t either, so it certainly works against them.”
“I guess he’s frustrated that I didn’t post the entire segment and he’s saying that that’s my job and I’m here to tell you that that’s not my job,” GP said. “I wasn’t watching Get Up, and my job isn’t to promote the show or the entire segment. I saw a funny video clip of him saying there are a bunch of quarterbacks that would make sense if they weren’t so famous, one of whom is me, and I posted that video – without commentary, by the way.”
There’s a love-and-hate relationship among Washington fans with RG3. He spent his first four seasons in the NFL with Washington after the team selected him second overall in the 2012 NFL Draft. That year, he won NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year but suffered a torn ACL that helped change his career’s trajectory.
Washington released Griffin after the 2015 season, as Kirk Cousins supplanted him as the starting quarterback. Griffin played an additional four years in the league, primarily as a backup with the Cleveland Browns and Baltimore Ravens.
Last year, Griffin nixed his tell-all book about his time with the Washington franchise. So there is a contingent of Commanders fans that are vile about Griffin.
As Paulsen alluded, there is some level of celebrity behind Wentz, Kaepernick, Newton, and RG3. But their struggles play a lot into them not being in the league, particularly for Griffin, who spent the final years of his career as a backup.
Hopefully, Griffin will take up Paulsen’s offer to appear on his show for them to hash out their issue.
