Why the Redskins Should Break the Bank for Robert Griffin III

Photograph courtesy of Flickr user Kevin Coles.

Five years ago, Gilbert Arenas took the stage at his birthday party and urged attendees to “get drunk and make bad decisions.”

Two and a half years later, Dan Snyder was drowning his sorrows with a bottle of the official moderately priced blended Canadian whisky of the Washington Redskins when he turned to his associates and said, “Let’s go get Mike Shanahan.”

Now another two and a half years have passed, and it’s time to grab the bottle by the neck and do something we swore we wouldn’t do again. It’s time to pay the king’s ransom it will take to land Robert Griffin III.

Plenty of people have already criticized the potential deal that would send upward of four draft picks (including two first-rounders) to St. Louis for this year’s second overall pick, and they might not be wrong. Continuing to stockpile draft picks instead of packaging the ones we have for another high-profile player is certainly the most sensible course of action. But at some point, the old ways of Dan Snyder are bound to resurface, so it might as well happen now, with the perfect target in our sights.

Griffin is exactly what the Redskins need, both now and moving forward as a franchise. As good as it sounds to use picks to fill gaps on the depth chart, the Redskins need to land a quarterback they can develop and build around. After years of quick fixes and stopgaps, fans are desperate for a player they can embrace. Off of the field and on, Griffin is an ideal fit for Washington. He possesses the skills, smarts, and personality to run this town.

The Redskins may very well never win a Super Bowl with the albatross that is Snyder’s ownership hanging around their necks, but with Griffin they have the opportunity to become lovable. And that’s something that’s been missing almost as long as the glory of victory.

So screw the patient approach. Pour yourself a drink, if that’s what it takes get on board with the idea of this potential trade. And if all of this trade talk has been a smokescreen to divert attention from their interest in Peyton Manning, pass the bottle my way.

Jack Kogod