We continue to hear that Robert Griffin III is lobbying Mike Shanahan to play in the preseason. We continue to hear that he is pressing the coaching staff to let him get on the field as early as the third preseason contest. We continue to hear this because Griffin continues to tell us.
In short, this strategy is misguided and woefully lacks an understanding of one of the core issues going into this season: Mike Shanahan HAS to be in charge of the situation, and HAS to be SEEN as in charge of the situation. Shanny got creamed by everyone for letting Griffin talk his way back onto the field last season. Don't we all remember the public relations nightmare that went down simultaneous to Griffin going down against the Seahawks?
In this case, RG3's public lobbying effort is working very much against him. Should Griffin succeed in winning a public lobbying campaign to get back on the field this preseason takes us right back to the day after we lost to Seattle last January. Don't pass go. Don't collect $200.
Unless Shanny wants everyone thinking that he has once again been persuaded by #10 to put the quarterback back on the field, he is almost compelled to go in the exact opposite direction of anything Griffin asks for publicly. He simply can't afford to be seen bending to the desires of a player that is always going to want be on the field no matter what, even to his own detriment.
Mike Shanahan has to exercise the final say, and it has to be free and clear of any input from the player this time. The way this lobbying effort is going, if Griffin plays in the preseason, everyone will say that it is because he convinced the coaches once again to play him, not necessarily because he is ready to go. God forbid anything should happen, it would be miserable around here for months.
If Robert really wants to play, he needs to wind down the grassroots effort to get on the field. It could--at some point--be the sole reason he ends up NOT playing.
(If only that worked in our jobs. We could publicly campaign for our bosses to give us work to do, in the hopes that our bosses would fear being seen capitulating to our wishes, and would instead make us stay home and play video games.)