Cooley: RG3 wouldn't befriend Cousins
The Robert Griffin III era officially came to a close on Monday after the Washington Redskins released the former second overall pick and naturally, stories about his downfall and struggles within the organization began to surface.
Griffin leaves a team that appears set on quarterback Kirk Cousins becoming its starter for the foreseeable future - a scenario that very few would have predicted when they both entered the league in 2012; Griffin as the franchise savior, Cousins as the fourth-round backup.
Former Redskins tight end Chris Cooley opened up about the strained relationship between Griffin and Cousins during several segments on ESPN 980 on Monday, and was especially critical of Griffin's lack of professionalism.
"There's a working relationship where guys show up and they work," Cooley said, according to Dan Steinberg of The Washington Post. "I would drink a beer with Mike Shanahan today; I did not like him as a head coach. I like him as a dude. That said, I don't think Kirk Cousins and Robert Griffin are going to be drinking any beers together.
"One, Robert doesn't drink, (and) Kirk rarely drinks. But there was never a friendship relationship. From the moment Kirk was drafted, I think Robert had animosity towards him. A lot of people in this area hated that fourth-round pick; I don't think anyone hated it as much as RGIII hated it."
Cooley noted that while Griffin did have many friends on the team - contrary to some reports that said the 26-year-old isolated himself from the rest of the roster - he was always unwilling to try and connect with his rival.
"Robert was never willing to be friends with Kirk Cousins," Cooley said. "They never hung out together, they never spent time together, their families didn’t hang out together. … It was never a great relationship. I don't think Robert ever wanted it to be a great relationship. And I think it became really contentious over the last two years, to where Rex Grossman, a guy who I'm close with, said 'This is weird in here. This is a bad situation in here. These guys don't like each other.'"
Griffin ultimately lost his starting job to Cousins halfway through the 2014 season, and while Cousins struggled early, his standout performances in 2015 earned him the Redskins' franchise tag, which will pay him just under $20 million next year.
Cooley indicated that Griffin was always concerned that his backup was a danger to replace him, which was exacerbated by the fact that Cousins was able to cultivate such strong relationships with his teammates, with Cooley referring to him as the "nicest dude in the world." In stark contrast, there were always rumblings during Griffin's time as starter that members of the Redskins' offense did not enjoy playing with him as he often placed the team's failures on the rest of the offense.
"The offensive line did not like Robert Griffin," Cooley said. "A lot of the receivers did not like Robert Griffin. The offensive line had a problem with Robert, because they were considered for a year-and-a-half or two years a terrible offensive line that couldn't protect a quarterback. A lot of that isn't true. A lot of that was Robert. A lot of the sacks were put on Robert. Want to believe it or not, they were, okay? Football-wise, they were: it was Robert.
"Robert never took (responsibility) for that,” Cooley continued. "Robert continued to let his offensive line eat the blame. They don't like it. They hate that, man. That kills them. Perception is the only thing an offensive line has, because 99 percent of people watching football have no idea what an offensive line's doing."
Griffin will now likely get a second chance in the NFL as a free agent, but it's clear that he will have some work to do to prove that he is not the type of teammate that Cooley describes.