If Robert Griffin III is going to lead the Washington Redskins this upcoming season, the process is going to start this summer. Griffin opened up Washington’s first practice of the summer in the team’s offseason training activities, also known as OTAs, on May 21. Griffin impressed onlookers at the team’s training facilities as he took snaps under center and threw the ball with consistency on the run.
Griffin has already suited up for rookie minicamp, which was held a week ago at Washington’s training facility in Ashburn, Va. However, the OTA on May 21 was the rookie signal caller’s first taste of action with other veteran team members.
“With rookie mini camp, you’re more there to try to show coach, ‘Hey, you know, you drafted me. I’m as advertised,’” Griffin told reporters. “But when you’re with the vets it’s more, ‘I can help this team win,’ show them why coach has so much confidence in you. So yeah, it’s a little bit more pressure but, you know, we were working out earlier in the week last week, and to come out and put helmets on and play football now is pretty simple.”
Griffin starred primarily in the shotgun as a Heisman award winner at Baylor but his transition to a more traditional role under center is expected to be a process in the making in the NFL. But Washington’s coaching staff is confident Griffin can convert with ease.
“At Baylor it was a fast-paced offense where we needed to get the ball out fast,” Griffin said. “But in this offense you have to, I guess you can say, it’s more about timing, especially from going under center so much. You’ve just got to get your feet right. But at the end of the day, put a defense in front of us and you have to move around. That’s why you work at the fundamentals so you can get it to where you can and you can work outside the system if you need to.”
Griffin fired passes to a pair of familiar faces in veteran receiver Santana Moss and tight end Chris Cooley, both staples of Washington’s offense for the past several seasons. And while sharp, it was Washington’s defensive captain, linebacker London Fletcher, who was most interested to see the rookie show his stuff.
“He has an aura about himself that people want to gravitate to him,” the 15-year veteran said. “You can see why everybody spoke so highly about him.”
