A year ago at this time Robert Griffin III was looking for work after a forgettable season with the Browns. He played in just five games in 2016 and finished with 59.2 completion percentage for 886 yards, 2 touchdowns and 3 interceptions. Griffin remained unsigned for all of 2017 before finally inking a one-year deal with the Ravens in April.

Unlike his first time through the league, when he was 2012 second-overall pick and the Redskins' starting quarterback, Griffin has no such assurances now. In fact, there's no guarantee he'll make the Ravens' final roster that includes incumbent Joe Flacco and 2018 first-rounder Lamar Jackson. But on Thursday night in the Hall of Fame game, Griffin was the best quarterback on the field. (Neither Flacco or Bears' starter Mitchell Trubisky played a snap but Jackson played the entire second half.)

When it was over, Griffin was 7 of 11 for 58 yards including a touchdown, which was reminiscent of RG3 in his prime:

He also threw one interception but receiver Breshad Perriman is wholly to blame; the ball hit him squarely in the hands, in stride, and he muffed it.

The Ravens won, 17-16, but for RG3 the game was bigger than your typical Week 1 preseason affair.

"People don't understand that once you're out of the league for a year, it's really hard to get back in, especially if you're a quarterback and a high draft pick. It's just really hard to do," he said, via ESPN.com. "[Thursday] was an emotional day for me, just coming back out here. I know it's the preseason, it's the Hall of Fame game, but to have an opportunity to come back out here and play football is something that I really cherish."

As recently as last fall, Griffin had given serious consideration to trying to qualify for the Olympics (he ran the 400-meter hurdles at Baylor and made it to the 2008 Olympic Trials semifinals) but everything changed when the Ravens came calling.

"I know what God's called me to do," Griffin told the Washington Post's Sam Fortier. "He's called me to play football at a high level, inspire men, lead men. That's why I didn't have any doubt in what I was doing."

Griffin still has to make the Ravens' roster. The team hasn't kept more than two quarterbacks in seven years and Flacco and Jackson aren't going anywhere.

"It'll be a tough decision, because anytime you keep one player at one position extra, it's one less player at another position that you have to decide to lose," coach John Harbaugh said recently, via PennLive.com. "We'll let that happen when the time comes."

For now, RG3 is just happy to be playing football again.

"You know, a lot of hard work went into it," he said. "When you're out of football for a year, sometimes things come into question, and sometimes doubt can start to seep in, and luckily I had the right people around me, and that never happened, and I was about to continue to push through, and that's why I'm here today. I thank them a lot."