Robert Griffin III is doing his best to come back from last year’s knee injury, and that will include wearing a knee brace throughout the 2013 season.
Robert Griffin III to wear knee brace for 2013 season
After two ACL tears, Robert Griffin III is taking his recovery from knee injury rather seriously, and will play the 2013 season with a brace on his right knee.
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Griffin, who tore his ACL in a playoff game last season against the Seattle Seahawks, has been cleared to practice, although he doesn’t expect to play in any preseason games. He’ll play this year in the brace, as he will for the immediate future, but he hasn’t decided whether the brace will remain after that.
We know that Griffin can perform well in a knee brace. After tearing his ACL for a first time at Baylor in 2009, he wore a brace in 2010, throwing for 3,501 yards with 22 touchdowns and just eight interceptions. But it was his junior year -- 4,293 yards, 37 touchdowns, six interceptions -- that made him a Heisman winner. Griffin was slightly more adept at running, statistically speaking -- 4.3 yards per carry vs. 3.9 -- with the brace on, so the extra piece of leg equipment won’t hamper his mobility too much.
Griffin spoke on his plans for the brace:
“After the first time I had the injury I wore it for a year and I thought I’d wear it for the rest of my life,” Griffin said. “The next year came around and I took it off, won a Heisman and did a whole lot of other things. It just depends on how the leg feels. I don’t plan on wearing it past this season, but it all depends on what happens.”
Although the brace might make Redskins fans hoping to forget about Griffin’s injury a little bit uneasy, anything that helps last year’s rookie of the year avoid a third serious injury in the knee is probably for the best. Griffin set rookie records for passer rating and touchdown-to-interception ratio last season while throwing for 3,200 yards and leading the Redskins to the postseason for the first time since 2007.
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