SI's Peter King counted 20 plays of 11-on-11 piloted by Robert Griffin III in the afternoon practice. Five were designed runs for Griffin.
On this afternoon, he ran it a lot better than he threw it. There's little doubt that Griffin's ability to run quarterback draws and rollouts and options will throw a wrench into opponents' preparation for Washington. But he wasn't getting hit in practice, obviously, and he will when the real games start -- maybe even when the Colts visit Washington in Week 3 of the preseason, and Dwight Freeney and Robert Mathis get a few shots at him.
I talked to one influential Redskin source here, who said, basically, that Griffin ran with abandon for the past two years and didn't get hurt. I looked it up: 26 Baylor games, 328 rushes, 12.6 rushes per game, and he survived. But a 217-pound quarterback is risking his future if he runs 100 or so times a year in the NFL.
Just my gut feeling, but it sounds like the Redskins don't want Griffin sitting in the pocket behind such a shaky line -- and don't want him to completely change the way he played in college. Which, in essence, was as a young Mike Vick or young Steve Young.
We still rank RGIII as a high end QB2 to target later in drafts. He's going to have his growing pains, but his rushing ability could lead to some nice rushing yardage points and perhaps some TDs as well.
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