RGIII will reportedly start Week 1 for Redskins

Redskins head coach Mike Shanahan confirmed after Washington’s final preseason game that he spoke with Dr. James Andrews and Griffin has been cleared to play, but Shanahan still has some concerns and has not officially named Griffin the starting quarterback.

Griffin won AP Offensive Rookie of the Year award last season, leading the Redskins to a playoff berth with 3,200 yards and 20 touchdowns passing, adding an additional 815 yards and seven scores on the ground.

Griffin had surgery in January to repair a torn ACL, keeping him out of action for the entire preseason. He worked in his first 11-on-11 drills on Aug. 14, he’s sharp in practice and has seemingly been on track for a Week 1 debut for quite awhile. Griffin said Tuesday that he felt “not below 100 percent,” which Schefter’s report seems to confirm.

Griffin was the AP Offensive Rookie of the Year last season, leading Washington to a playoff berth with 3,200 yards and 20 touchdowns passing to go with 815 yards and seven scores on the ground. He threw just five interceptions in 393 attempts.

Griffin has been rehabbing his knee injury all offseason and hasn’t taken part in any preseason games. All offseason, Griffin has talked about being able to start Week 1 of the regular season, and has claimed that he’s been ahead of his schedule.

Given when the injury occurred, returning for Week 1 would have him coming back slightly ahead of the projected schedule, for what it’s worth. Griffin has been practicing for a few weeks and recently started taking work against the defense as opposed to just working with the offense.

The Washington Redskins refuted a report Saturday that said Robert Griffin III’s doctor recommended the quarterback not play before the sixth week of the season.

The report came from Philadelphia-area television and radio reporter Howard Eskin, citing anonymous sources who told him Dr. James Andrews, Griffin’s doctor, recommended he not play before the team’s bye week. That is Week 5 for the Redskins.

Griffin started performing in 11-on-11 drills Wednesday after spending most of training camp in 7-on-7. He will not play in any preseason games as the Redskins continue to closely monitor his rehab.

Fantasy impact: It’s been the party line for a while that Griffin will be ready for Week 1, but this time we’re getting assurance from the GM rather than Mike Shanahan. By all accounts Griffin’s recovery has been going well, to the point where he’s been frustrated at not taking more reps.

Whether Griffin will be as good as his rookie self when he takes to FedEx Field is another question. Griffin will not participate in the preseason, meaning he will have to shake off considerable rust in his first game back, not to mention face a formidable pass rush for the first time in seven months.

• Longform: Olympian Marquise Goodwin seeks success on the gridiron

The second-year signal caller lined up across from the scout-team defense and completed 14 of 15 passes for 179 yards and a touchdown according to The Washington Post’s Mike Jones.

Fantasy Spin: Griffin’s first day of 11-on-11 came Wednesday, and it’s worth mention that his work has not stagnated, but continues to increase as summer progresses. Offensive Coordinator Kyle Shanahan told reporters that Griffin looked crisper in his execution, and also practiced designed runs and bootlegs.

Whether Griffin will participate in the Redskins’ preseason is still unclear. Though he may be a full participant in workouts as soon as this week, head coach Mike Shanahan may be hesitant to expose his quarterback to full contact before it is absolutely necessary to do so.

• NFL Debrief: Lessons from preseason’s first week

Griffin has been limited to 7-on-7 drills thus far at Redskins camp, but told reporters earlier this week that he was ready to take part in 11-on-11 full-team drills and was farther along than his coach would admit.

The breakout star didn’t get any playing time during the preseason opener, but did handle the coin flip and put together this sweet highlight video.

There’s no defense that can defend that, so don’t even try. The pocket movement RGIII shows is second-to-none, and it’s wise of him to spin away from the front-side pressure and find an outlet throw when everything goes wrong.

It may have been a while since we’ve seen football, but this is the most impressive quarterbacking I’ve seen since this man sparred with the open breeze.

“I’ll do everything as far as individual drills,” Griffin said. “I’ll get to take snaps with the centers, I’ll do drills with the running backs and the wide receivers. I’ll do 7-on-7’s.”

Griffin said that he won’t participate when the Redskins go to 11-on-11 drills, however. At least not right away. He has passed every test administered by his surgeon, Dr. James Andrews, and team doctors, however, and once he passed those tests Griffin knew “there was no need for me to sit around and just watch all of practice.”

After an alternately queasy and actively depressing NFL offseason, the imminent return of RGIII is a rare and welcome bit of good news -- not just for Washington fans, but everyone who cares about football.

None of the members of the marching band that got on the bus from the auxiliary parking area -- a gravel pit closer to the zombified subdivisions of Landover, Maryland than FedEx Field itself -- believed that their team would lose. This was not a scientific poll. We were in a short-bus wrapped in advertising for P. Diddy’s vodka brand, which is to say wrapped in that Fuming Squirrel face Diddy makes when he’s trying to look serious.

The bus smelled like infected hangover. No one wanted to touch what was either a pole for passengers to hang onto while the bus was in motion or a pole with... other uses. Despite all this, though, the mood was positive, insofar as every passenger I asked seemed confident that Washington would win its Wild Card game against Seattle, and that there was no telling what the team might do with Robert Griffin III under center.

Griffin had surgery on his knee on Jan. 9 to repair the torn LCL and ACL in his right knee after suffering the injury in the postseason of the 2012 season. Due to the severity and timing of the injury, there were questions about whether or not Griffin would be available for the beginning of the 2013 season, but the reigning AP Offensive Rookie of the Year has reportedly made a rapid recovery that will likely feature him making his return on Week 1.

• The five best training camp stories to watch

Rich Campbell from the Washington Times reported that Griffin was recently examined by Dr. James Andrews, paving the way for his return.

• The five best training camp stories to watch

Reports indicate that Griffin’s recovery is still on track, and that is very good news for Redskins fans.

• 49ers acquire CB Eric Wright from Bucs

Griffin would be eligible to come off the PUP list at any time, but would not be allowed to take part in team drills until after that point.

Peterson’s amazing 2012 comeback performance has made him the model for overcoming serious knee injuries in sports. After undergoing reconstructive surgery to repair a torn ACL in his left knee to close 2011, Peterson exploded back onto the NFL scene last season, rushing for over 2,000 yards and 12 touchdowns and earning league MVP.

He helped Washington go from bottom of the barrel to top of the food chain in the NFC East. Unfortunately, the Redskins weren’t able to advance in the playoffs, and RGIII’s injured his knee again in a Divisional round loss to the Seahawks.

Fast-forward to the present day, and Griffin is still rehabbing from his injury. He’s on track to be ready for the start of the regular season, and was recently allowed to do change-of-direction drills. He still got a way to go. That’s not to mention that all it takes is one setback to put him back on the shelf.

Getting a full range of motion back and that edge on his cuts is perhaps more important for Griffin than any other quarterback in the league. Griffin loves to run the football, putting up 815 rushing yards and seven touchdowns on the ground to go with his 3,200 yards and 20 touchdowns through the air.

Griffin has been running for some time now, but due to the amount of force impacted on a single leg when changing direction at speed, he hasn’t been allowed to make cuts. It would stand to reason that Griffin is doing very well in his recovery if he’s being allowed to make cuts; there aren’t too many things out there more grueling on an injured knee.

Griffin reiterated that he felt good, and there is no soreness in his knee. He is doing more cutting, planting and throwing, suggesting that his recovery is going as well as planned. Griffin stopped short of making a guarantee, however, saying that if he isn’t ready, “I can swallow my pride.”

• Chris Kluwe declines White House invite | Bernard Pollard, too

NFL.com’s Albert Breer had more from Griffin on Twitter, noting that RGIII would like to be back in time for training camp and that he has two steps left in rehab before he feels comfortable to return: To start “explosive sprinting” in a “few weeks” and then being able to start “cutting” his runs a few weeks after that. Griffin also noted that he won’t change his “mindset” of his playing style but that he could be smarter about it.

Griffin exceeded even the highest expectations during his rookie season as he completed 65.6 percent of his passes for 3,200 yards, 20 touchdowns, five interceptions, and 815 yards rushing with another seven touchdowns as he guided the Redskins to an NFC East title and playoff berth. He was already limping early against the Seahawks in their Wild Card matchup at home, but the team opted to let him keep playing before he ultimately bent his knee the wrong late in the game and received the bad news on his knee.

Here’s some video from Albert Breer of the NFL Network:

If TwitPics and cell phone videos aren’t enough for you, ESPN featured live look-ins on Washington’s practice. The network even had close ups of RGIII stretching, which also might reveal their plans for a potential Tebow-less NFL.

RG3’s father went on to say that his son is ahead in his rehabilitation of where he was when he tore his ACL while playing at Baylor four years ago.

RG3 completed 258 of 393 passes in 2012 for 3,200 yards, 20 touchdowns and five interceptions for a 102.4 passer rating. He also ran for 815 yards and seven additional touchdowns. He led the Redskins to the playoffs as the NFC East champions, making their first postseason appearance since 2007.

Looking back on the night, Griffin sees that he would have been better off long-term by sitting instead of trying to play in spite of the injury. Per the Washington Post article:

Griffin’s recovery process thus far has been lauded by Dr. James Andrews, who performed the operation to repair Griffin’s ACL in January. If everything continues to progress as expected, Griffin will be back on the field sometime in training camp.

RGIII was on the scene to rally support at his team’s draft party. He even did a few jumping jacks to get the crowd pumped up, or he had a hidden agenda to show the world just how well he’s recovering from knee surgery.

And because RGIII has now done jumping jacks as part of his on-field routine, we can expect him to submit a trademark application for everyone’s favorite warmup activity.