The Washington Redskins have had a rough go of it the past couple years with Robert Griffin III and to hear former head coach Mike Shanahan tell it, things could have gone very differently during his run, as he spoke in an interview and said that he had wanted to target Peyton Manning after he was released by the Colts over making the RG3 trade in the draft.
The Redskins have finished in the bottom of the NFC East in each of the past two seasons and Griffin has not been healthy since making the run to the playoffs with Shanahan as coach. According to Pro Football Talk, Shanahan was on ESPN 980 and spoke about his time in Washington, giving some background on the major decisions that were made during his tenure. Shanahan said that he hoped to bring in Peyton Manning after he was released by the Colts, but being in the same division as his brother Eli was an issue.
Shanahan spoke about the decision to trade for the number two pick in the draft and said that he felt it was too much to give up, even for a player the caliber of RG3. Shanahan said that had he known about the looming salary cap penalties that were about to hit the Redskins, he likely would not have gone through with the deal. Griffin is reportedly coming into the season as the starter after Jay Gruden made that public this week.
Shanahan said that the team looked at Griffin, Andrew Luck, Ryan Tannehill, Russell Wilson and Kirk Cousins as the top quarterbacks in the draft and they took two of them. Cousins has had his chances behind Griffin, but he could be asking for a trade this offseason depending on how things go.
"I did not feel good about giving up two No. 1s and a No. 2, and they all knew I felt that way," Shanahan said. "I said, 'Hey, yeah, I would take the chance. But I want you to know that he's really going to have to commit to what we're doing.'"
