The Washington Redskins traded away a boatload of draft picks to the St. Louis Rams in order to move up to select Robert Griffin III at No. 2 overall in the 2012 NFL Draft. It appeared to be an incredibly wise decision by the end of the 2012 campaign, as Griffin III went 9-6 in his first 15 starts, and the Redskins won the NFC East at 10-6. Unfortunately, from there on out, things couldn’t have gone any worse than they did.
Griffin III was plagued with injury, ineffectiveness and a seemingly terrible attitude, and the Redskins went 5-15 over his next 20 starts. The Redskins were knocked out of the playoffs by the Green Bay Packers yesterday, and many of their players wasted no time in cleaning out their lockers early on Monday. Griffin III knows he’s not returning to Washington next season, as the Redskins would have to pay him $16.2 million if he’s still on the roster come Mar. 9 when the new football year begins.
RG3 cleaning out his locker is one of the sadder, more surreal scenes I’ve seen in DC sports https://t.co/kYXfogNAvb pic.twitter.com/6faKUx8w4B
— Keely Diven (@keelydivenCSN) January 11, 2016
However, instead of leaving the organization that drafted him with no memory of his presence, Griffin III left this note in his empty locker.
RG3 cleared out his locker today, save for this note. pic.twitter.com/rjcKheHHSN
— Robert Klemko (@RobertKlemko) January 11, 2016
According to ESPN, this is “The Paradoxical Commandments”, written by Dr. Kent M. Keith. It was apparently inspired by a quote from Mother Teresa, and the note had been in his locker for some time.
Griffin III had quite a tumultuous stay with the Redskins, so there’s no telling what the true message was here. Some feel it’s a passive-aggressive way of him saying the organization did him wrong, but he’ll still succeed elsewhere. Others are certain it’s his way of saying the tough times are all water under the bridge.
Either way, both parties are better off without each other.
