Another day, another NFL investigation. This time, the league is looking into the activity of Robert Griffin III prior to the Browns loss to the Ravens on Thursday. The quarterback was seen throwing passes to rookie wideout Jordan Payton. It’s probably not much of a surprise, but this violates one of the NFL’s rules regarding injured players.
As Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk.com writes, the NFL doesn’t allow players on the injured reserve to work out on the field an hour before kickoff. Fortunately for RG3 and the Browns, it doesn’t seem like the player did anything wrong. Mary Kay Cabot of Cleveland.com has photo evidence (via Twitter) that Griffin had finished his routine more than an hour before kickoff. Meanwhile, for what it’s worth, coach Hue Jackson seemed confident that the team didn’t break any rules.
“It would be if it was 60 minutes prior to the game starting,” said Jackson (via Josh Edwards of CBSSports.com). “Then he cannot be out there throwing to a player, any player at that particular point in time, from what I understand from the rules.
“From what I know, we did not break the rules. Obviously, until the investigation is complete, you don’t know. We will wait for them to have that down, but hopefully, everything will be alright as far as that is concerned.”
Ignoring the investigation, it’s actually an encouraging sign that Griffin is back to throwing (even if it was only for a brief stretch). The Browns have yet to designate which player on the IR will be eligible to return this season, and considering the team’s struggles at quarterback, Griffin doesn’t seem out of the realm of possibility. The 26-year-old inked a two-year, $15MM contract with Cleveland this offseason, but a shoulder surgery forced him to the sideline during the team’s first game of the season.
I guess I see the reason behind the “investigation”, and the rules regarding such insrances, but to make this a story and deem this so publicly as an investigation is exactly why NFL is losing its credibility quite quickly.
Who gives a fork if RG3 was having a catch before a game?
NFL is losing viewers b/c you need a g-d law degree to watch a game.
…which is coupled with constant fines and investigations into matters such as this that only cause the common fan to make a joke out of it.
And the nfl wonders why its audience share dwindles…
Come on man!!!
He’s probably hoping that he gets suspended until the Browns can draft an O-line.
Leave the Browns alone They have enough problems Get him an OL and he wont be on the injured reserve