What if the Washington Commanders franchise never traded up to get quarterback Robert Griffin III (RGIII) in the 2012 NFL Draft?
That is the question posed by Sports Illustrated's Gilberto Manzano in a published piece that doesn't just ask 'what if' about the Commanders, but about all 32 NFL teams.
If Washington and the Rams, then located in St. Louis, don't make that trade, then it is likely the trade happens with a different team, and RGIII's future heads elsewhere. Meanwhile, the Rams don't trade the sixth overall pick they got in the original trade to the Dallas Cowboys, and so on and so forth. And that's just for starters.
"Robert Griffin III probably wonders about this all the time. What if he didn’t rush back from his knee injury and didn’t tear his ACL and LCL in the wild-card loss against the Seahawks? From there, Griffin wasn’t the same physically and had to constantly prove himself with Kirk Cousins having the attention of the coaching staff," Manzano writes. "Perhaps Griffin doesn’t suffer the devastating knee injury had the Rams kept the No. 2 pick or traded it to a different team. If this occurred, maybe Washington takes Tannehill with its original pick. Tannehill went to the Dolphins at No. 8."
It is fully possible, of course, that Washington takes Tanehill, or perhaps, seeing Kirk Cousins waiting on Day 2, the team goes a different direction and takes–say–linebacker Luke Kuechly, who was selected with the ninth overall pick by the Carolina Panthers.
Of course, if the trade never happens, even if the team buckled under the need to find a franchise quarterback, it would at least get the two first-round picks and a second-round pick sent to St. Louis in the deal.
If nailed, those future picks could have turned into linebacker Bobby Wagner, tight end Zach Ertz, and wide receiver Mike Evans. For Wagner and Ertz, it is a better late than never situation, though neither man is probably looking to give up all the success they had in the paths they found in the real world.
For Washington, it is a strong reminder that it isn't enough to draft talented players; they have to be the right men and have the right organization around them. Fortunately for the latest franchise quarterback, Jayden Daniels, it appears those things are falling in line this time around. And no trade was required.
