During the entirety of Robert Griffin III’s rehab from his devastating end-of-season knee injury, orthopedic surgeon Dr. James Andrews has been more than positive about the health of the Redskins quarterback.
On the day of the surgery that repaired his ACL and LCL, Andrews said Griffin should be ready to start the 2013 season. In February, he claimed RG3 was “way ahead of schedule,” and a month after that, Andrews called him “superhuman” and said “his recovery has been unbelievable so far.”
After participating in offseason workouts, running hard and cutting, and saying (basically, every week) that his knee feels great, Griffin will undergo his biggest test yet this week. That’s when Andrews will decide whether to clear Griffin for full football activities, according to the Washington Post, which writes that Andrews will “extensively” examine Griffin’s knee.
If he doesn’t pass the exam, the team could place Griffin on the Physically Unable to Perform list for the start of training camp and elevate Kirk Cousins to the No. 1 quarterback spot for the time being.
“When the doctors feel like he’s ready to go, we’re going to get a chance to practice him. We’ll see what he can do,” Redskins coach Mike Shanahan said in June. “I don’t think anybody knows, though. We talk about this question every day and nobody knows for sure, but we’re trying on July 24th or 25th, in that area, and we’ll find out.”
If all goes as expected, Andrews probably will clear RG3 for training camp and Griffin will take the field like nothing’s wrong. After all, the team has been absolutely astonished by Griffin’s rehab this offseason, and there’s little reason at this point to expect any kind of setback.
