I like RGIII a lot. My folks met him in Orlando and couldn’t have been more impressed with his personality and attitude. By every account he’s a 5-star character guy with 5-star smarts and intangibles. Really, it’s tough to ask for more when you combine that with his stats on the field.
That said, I’d be a little worried if he about to become my franchise QB. I don’t think it’s racism, but I understand the leap in logic to arrive at it, but he just doesn’t look like an NFL QB. There’s a very short list of players who’ve been successful playing his style of football. There have been a handful of college QBs who ran a similar college system and had similar completion percentages and proceeded to flop in the NFL. If Griffin has some hiccups working from under center at his Pro Day and weighs in too light worries will amplify. Being unconventional always comes with some extra risk and worry, and RGIII is unconventional.
I wouldn’t be utterly shocked if the Brown took the Matt Flynn route. Holmgren’s system seems like an ideal fit for him and he’s less raw than RGIII. Plus, there’s still a very good chance that the Browns would have to trade up in order to nab RGIII and given the choice between a bird in hand and 2 in the bush, the Brownies might just sign Flynn for a middle of the road offer and hold onto all their draft picks.
I hate to say it, but I think this has truth to it. At the risk of a hijack. I think that the same has been true in reverse with Tim Tebow: because he’s white, some people have a hard time believing how much of his success has been sheer athleticism.
I think this conclusion is a little lazy. There’s certainly a segment of the population who feels this way, but I think for most of the critical thinkers out there and the media/scouts who discuss it professionally set that aside pretty effectively.
I’ve heard much the same being said about the success of Jordy “White Lightning” Nelson. The theory goes that most CB and S see a white receiver and assume he’s not all that fast and that he’ll be a Wes Welker type going short over the middle or finding holes in the zones rather than blowing past them for the big gain.
I didn’t say scouts … I said “people,” and I was thinking more of fans, especially the casual fans who are much of the impetus behind Tebowmania.
An inarticulate black QB who is raw athlete is a pretty common football trope. Fair or not, it’s something people expect. Tebow is fairly well-spoken, a stellar citizen and a hard worker; for casual fans, it’s hard to see all that and grok that, on the field, his play most resembles guys like Aaron Brooks and Randall Cunningham.