Kirk Cousins (No. 102 overall) and Robert Griffin III (No. 2 overall) were both picked in the same 2012 NFL Draft, which is kind of crazy to think back on, even if it is common knowledge to most football fans. RGIII was taken #2 overall behind arguably the greatest quarterback prospect in NFL history, Andrew Luck.
At the start of their rookie year, as Cousins watched on from the sideline with a hat on his head and clipboard in his hand, Griffin was blasted out of a cannon. Not only did he quickly jump out to a sizeable rookie of the year lead, he took the entire NFL by storm (more on that momentarily).
But now Robert Griffin III is quickly rising up the ranks at ESPN, as an NFL and CFB analyst, and he’s quite good at it. He’s opinionated, studied and he still has some of that “it factor” that helped make him so popular and marketable when he was a football player.
Robert Griffen III wants Kirk Cousins to stay with Minnesota Vikings
And on Wednesday, he weighed in on the Kirk Cousins next team talking point that has taken over the Minnesota Vikings offseason. Where does he think his old teammate, rival and now friend(?) should play next season and possibly beyond? Right where he has played since 2018.
RGIII and I are on the same page here so he won’t get any argument from me. With all this talk about the Vikings not having enough talent, I’m yet to find another location where he would have more weapons than he does in Minnesota.
There aren’t a lot of teams with offensive weapons that match up to what the Vikings have in Justin Jefferson, TJ Hockenson, Jordan Addison and one of the best tackle combos in the league with Christian Darrisaw and Brian O’Neill. I wrote about that yesterday when addressing all of the Cousins –> Atlanta hype.
The NFL career path comparison between Cousins and RGIII is wild
For newer NFL fans who may not remember what RGIII did to the league 11 years ago. The RGIII effect was the Josh Dobbs effect on steroids. Robert Griffen III was a new kind of quarterback and he was electric.
He was accurate from the pocket and legitimately one of the fastest players in the league. The Vikings found that out first hand in week 6, 2012 (peep Kirk standing on the sideline as RGIII runs by).
But then RGIII dealt with injury issues that were probably made worse during a messy playoff game in DC that he probably shouldn’t have been allowed to continue in… but that’s for another article at another website.
Here we are 12 years later. Kirk Cousins is still in the league and considered a top-10 quarterback by most. He’s thrown for 39,471 yards and 270 touchdowns in his career. Kirko has made over $250 million in salary alone, as an NFL quarterback, and he’s looking to cash in for over another $100 million this offseason.
Such success was not in the cards for Robert Griffin III, who never returned to the dual-threat monster he was as a rookie, when he returned from injury. He managed to hang around the league as a spot starter and backup for eight years. He played for a few teams after leaving DC, including the Cleveland Browns and Baltimore Ravens.
He totaled 9,271 and 43 touchdowns through the air, to go with 1,809 yards and 10 TDs on the ground. Don’t cry too hard for Robert, though. In his injury depressed career, he was still able to rack up $33 million in salary and way more than that in endorsement deals.
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