RGIII Leftovers: Jets, Broncos, Draft, McCown

With Robert Griffin III now a member of the Browns, the Jets have lost one of their backup plans at quarterback, as Manish Mehta of the New York Daily News writes. According to Mehta, RGIII would have been an “acceptable fallback choice with upside” for the Jets, who continue to prioritize Ryan Fitzpatrick. With their alternatives dwindling, the Jets should increase their offer to Fitzpatrick and get something done, in Mehta’s view.

Here are a few more reactions to Griffin’s new deal in Cleveland:

• Having lost Brock Osweiler to Houston, Broncos GM John Elway briefly considered RGIII as an option in Denver, but after making some phone calls, Elway had concerns about the signal-caller’s character, says Mike Klis of 9NEWS. According to Klis, the team never reached out to Griffin’s camp to express interest.
• Charles Robinson of Yahoo! Sports suggests the Browns were the only team with legit interest in RGIII, noting that teams in need of a backup like the Cowboys and Chiefs never engaged.
• In a slideshow at Cleveland.com, Mary Kay Cabot breaks down five things the Griffin signing means for the Browns, suggesting that the team will likely still draft a quarterback early, and that Josh McCown figures to be a goner.
• Pat McManamon of ESPN.com echoes the idea that the Browns should still select a quarterback early in the draft, writing that signing Griffin is just the start of the team’s QB search — not the end of it.
• Jason Fitzgerald of Over the Cap examines the contract signed by the former second overall pick, explaining that the deal suggests the Browns gave him the best chance to start. As Fitzgerald points out, if Griffin thought he could get a starting job somewhere, it might have made more sense to take a one-year, prove-it deal to try to land a bigger contract a year from now — instead, he locked himself into a two-year pact that will be team-friendly if he ends up starting and playing well.
• Browns head coach Hue Jackson was extremely impressed with what he saw from Griffin when the QB worked out for the team last week, as Jeff Darlington of NFL.com details. Given Jackson’s reputation for understanding quarterbacks “as well as anyone,” his endorsement helped convince the team to get a deal done.