Four years ago, this Redskins sold the proverbial farm to move up in the draft to take Robert Griffin III. Now, a season after losing his job for good to Kirk Cousins, names like Sam Bradford, Brock Osweiler, Colin Kaepernick and Ryan Fitzpatrick are considered better options at quarterback.
Griffin's career isn't over, but he'll enter the 2016 season as a backup -- as soon as he finds a team willing to sign him to a deal.
Good news: The Jets had RG3 in for a visit on Friday. Bad news: It may have been nothing more than a leverage play against Fitzpatrick, writes the New York Daily News' Manish Mehta, who had a career year in New York in 2015 and is currently trying to parlay that into one last payday.
We don't blame Fitzpatrick, but the Jets aren't budging. In fact, according Mehta, the team "is also doing homework on other available options should the veteran actually find another home."
Meanwhile, Mehta adds that "Griffin wants as many look-sees as possible too, so his trip to team headquarters was likely mutually beneficial."
The Jets reportedly prefer to keep Fitzpatrick, who threw 31 touchdowns last season, but they won't pay him the going rate for replacement-level talent: $16 million-$18 million a year (both Bradford and Osweiler just signed deals that will pay them, on average, $18 million a year).
And if Fitzpatrick ends up elsewhere (the Broncos are reportedly interested in him as a contingency plan)? It's not the end of the world; there's enough talent -- starting with Brandon Marshall, Eric Decker and Matt Forte -- to help whoever ends up under center, and it's not like the 33-year-old Fitzpatrick is suddenly the next coming of Joe Namath.
