BEREA: Welcome to Cleveland, Captain Robert.
The leadership of quarterback Robert Griffin III had been questioned for years in Washington, but his new teammates recently voted him a captain along with left tackle Joe Thomas, cornerback Joe Haden, inside linebacker Demario Davis and special-teams ace Tank Carder. The players were named to the leadership roles Wednesday.
“The testament to Robert being named captain is that it came from his teammates. They voted on it. Coaches had nothing to do with this. This was all of his teammates,” Browns coach Hue Jackson said after his team practiced in preparation for Sunday’s regular-season opener on the road against the Philadelphia Eagles. “He’s embedded himself within the organization and his teammates. I think he has shown them he’s somebody they can depend on.”
Jackson insisted the election results were “100 percent accurate,” but he conceded they caught him off guard.
“I was a little surprised,” Jackson said. “I will be very honest with you. I was surprised because obviously Robert hasn’t been here very long, and we haven’t played a real football game yet, so for him to be voted captain, he should feel good about that. His teammates feel good about him. We didn’t rig that by no stretch of the imagination.”
Griffin signed a two-year, $15 million contract with the Browns in March after descending from the NFL’s offensive rookie of the year who made the Pro Bowl and led Washington to the playoffs in 2012 to a third-stringer who didn’t take a snap last year and was cut after the season.
He arrived in Cleveland with a reputation as an uncoachable player and a bad teammate. Yet he has obviously earned the respect of the Browns.
“You have to go out and lead by example. It is a blessing to be the face of a franchise or be the team leader,” Griffin said. “That is not something that you take lightly. I appreciate all these guys in here giving me that opportunity because you have to earn that.”
Haden said Griffin is a “super team-first guy” who wants to bond with his teammates.
“Like me, he wants to be liked,” Haden said. “He doesn’t feel like there’s no reason to have anybody walking around and not talking to everybody, so that’s really special.”
But Griffin isn’t suddenly immune to criticism just because he’s a captain. He was disappointed to learn Washington Hall of Fame cornerback Darrell Green recently ripped him on the radio for the way Green believes Griffin is handling his personal life.
Griffin is going through a divorce with his wife, the former Rebecca Liddicoat. They have a 1-year-old daughter. Griffin has a new girlfriend, Grete Sadeiko.
Apparently Green has taken exception to the situation.
“I don’t appreciate his moral stance, what he’s doing with his wife, his kids,” Green said Tuesday on Washington, D.C., radio station 106.7 The Fan. “I mean, he’s jacked up, and that’s not good. I don’t appreciate that. When you have responsibilities — young people looking at you, [he] had this whole city in his hands — and when you do that, you’re responsible for more than yourself, and that’s selfish and that’s childish, the way he’s operating.”
Griffin said he wasn’t aware of Green’s rant until a reporter asked him about it Wednesday.
“I make sure I don’t focus on those things,” Griffin said. “That’s the first time I’ve ever heard of that because that’s not my job, and for Darrell, a guy that I know personally, that’s his prerogative. Whatever you say in the public sphere, you have to make sure you are ready to say that in the private sphere as well.
“Darrell hadn’t approached me about anything. I considered him a friend, so that’s disappointing. But it’s nothing that I can control. So I just focus on being here with the Browns, worry about football, focus on that and don’t let anything distract me.”
Jackson said he knows Green and wouldn’t comment about his verbal attack on Griffin.
“Obviously, we have an expectation for Robert and of Robert, and Robert understands that,” Jackson said. “Anything that we feel like is out of bounds, trust me, I will address with any player, not just Robert. There’s a right way to do things, and there’s a wrong way to do things, and I know sometimes people make mistakes. So we’ll deal with everything accordingly, but I don’t want to get into what Darrell’s feeling or talked about. I’m going to take our judgment here within our organization with what we’re doing when it comes to Robert.”
Green also said he would “be surprised” if things turn out well for Griffin with the Browns.
Jackson has given Griffin the opportunity to prove the skeptics wrong. And Griffin said he’ll be “forever grateful” for a chance to revive his career after it crumbled in Washington.
“Everything that I have been through personally in the league, it makes you have that emphasis on controlling what you can and focusing on what you can and when you get an opportunity make the most of it,” Griffin said. “Yeah, I’m extremely happy, not satisfied, but happy with where I am. The opportunity that has been blessed upon me and being here with these guys is truly a blessing. I can’t speak enough about how this locker room has been awesome. I have been able to grow as a player and as a leader in this locker room.”
Nate Ulrich can be reached at nulrich@thebeaconjournal.com. Read the Browns blog at www.ohio.com/browns. Follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/NateUlrichABJ and on Facebook www.facebook.com/abj.sports.