Mike Shanahan believes Robert Griffin III can be an all-time great

Washington Redskins head coach Mike Shanahan says that Robert Griffin III can be an all-time great if he can continue to be as productive as he was in 2012.

by James Brady

May 25, 2013, 2:02 AM UTC

Patrick McDermott

Robert Griffin III is still on the road to recovery and nobody is confident in giving a time frame for his return, though the hope is that he'll be ready in Week 1. The Washington Redskins gave up a lot to get Griffin, but his injury has not dimmed their opinion of him. As noted by NFL.com, head coach Mike Shanahan believes Griffin can be one of the all-time greats when it's all said and done.

"If Robert plays like he did (in 2012) the rest of his career, he'll go down as one of the best quarterbacks to ever play the game," Shanahan said Thursday following one of the team's organized team activity sessions. That's a lot of praise, given that the NFL is essentially defined by the great quarterbacks to play the game.

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Washington gave up three first-round picks and a second-round pick to move up and select Griffin in the 2012 NFL Draft. He injured his knee in Week 14 last year, and controversy arose when Griffin played on the injured knee in the Redskins' Wildcard matchup against the Seattle Seahawks. Whether or not staying in will ultimately hurt his career is anybody's guess.

But if Griffin plays to his 2012 numbers, would he be considered an all-time great? He definitely had some good numbers last year. In 15 games, Griffin completed 258 of 393 passes, good for a completion percentage of 65.6. He threw for 3,200 yards and had 20 touchdowns against just five interceptions. Putting up those numbers over a course of 10 years or so would certainly help his case.

A big part of the Griffin hype is due to the fact that he took a Redskins team that won five games in 2011 to the playoffs in 2012. The NFC East has been contested by all four teams in the division in recent years, but the Redskins look like they can take a stranglehold on the division if Griffin doesn’t regress with his injury.