Washington Football Team: The best quarterbacks in team history

No. 8 – Robert Griffin III (2012-2015)

In 2012, Robert Griffin III had one of the greatest years a rookie quarterback has ever managed. He threw 20 touchdowns against five interceptions, had a YPA over 8 and a rating over 100. On top of that, he ran for more than 800 yards and seven more touchdowns. At the time, only four other quarterbacks had ever run for more yards in a season. Only Randall Cunningham had combined for more yards in a season, with a minimum of 800 yards rushing. And that came six years into his career (Russell Wilson and Lamar Jackson have surpassed RGIII’s total since).

Not only that, RGIII revived both a team and an entire fan base that had been in the doldrums for more than a decade. He led a remarkable second half surge that took Washington into the playoffs and made anything seem possible.

Then, in a playoff game against Seattle, it all came crashing down. His own competitive stubbornness combined with poor judgment from above ended that season, and would eventually squash a potentially brilliant career just as it was starting.

The cost of acquiring Griffin – three first-round picks and one second – made it a bitter pill. But it was the death of hope – the glimpse of a very bright future snatched away through childish mismanagement – that made the next few years so difficult. On the surface, Griffin’s career numbers don’t look too bad in a vacuum. But he quarterbacked a team that went 14-21 in the games he started. It should have been so much better.