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According to the team's official web site, Robert Griffin III was sold on Cleveland as soon as his meeting with Browns head coach Hue Jackson and associate head coach Pep Hamilton was complete. Now, the former Washington Redskins quarterback is focused on just one thing: Coming to the Cleveland and competing to become the team's starting quarterback.
Griffin, a free agent, made it official Thursday when he signed a two-year contract with the Browns.
Whether that will make him fantasy-football relevant remains to be seen. But Griffin is happy to have a home.
For the record, Griffin will make $7.5 million in 2016, including a $3.5 million signing bonus. Same in 2017 if he's on the team. Another $3.5 million are available as incentives.
"I'm excited about the opportunity to join the Dawg Pound and help build something here in Cleveland," Griffin said. "Coach Hue and Pep, I had a great meeting with them. I really believe in what they preach and how they can help not only me as a player but this team win games and that's what we're all about.
"I'm just excited to come in and compete. Nothing's ever been given to me in my life, so I just want to go out and compete with the guys and grow with this team. I feel like that's all I'm really focused on."
"We are excited about Robert joining the Cleveland Browns," Jackson said. "He brings starting experience to our team and organization. He's a young, athletic, talented passer and he's really just starting out in this league. Just like every player on our team, Robert will have to earn every opportunity he gets. He will compete with the rest of the quarterbacks on our roster and he helps improve our QB room, which was one of my goals upon taking the job. It's a special room and we want to put special people and players in that room."
As ClevelandBrowns.com senior writer Andrew Gribble noted, Griffin becomes the fourth quarterback on the roster, joining veteran Josh McCown, Austin Davis and Connor Shaw.
Only McCown carries more experience than RG3 -- and he might not be around long.
Griffin is entering his fifth NFL season as a pro. Originally selected by Washington with the second overall pick in 2012, Griffin has appeared in 37 games with 35 starts. He has completed 679 of 1,063 passes (63.9 percent) for 8,097 yards with 40 touchdowns, 23 interceptions and a 90.6 rating. He has added 1,480 career rushing yards with eight scores.
Griffin set NFL rookie records for passer rating (102.4), interception percentage (1.27) and rushing yards by a quarterback (815) en route to being named 2012 Associated Press Offensive Rookie of the Year and a Pro Bowl selection. He led the Redskins to a 10-6 record and their first division title in 13 years. Griffin totaled 3,200 passing yards with 20 touchdowns and five interceptions, while adding 815 rushing yards and seven touchdowns. He set the fantasy world on its collective ear.
But his career has been in decline since then.
Starting 13 games in 2013, Griffin recorded a career-high 3,203 passing yards, as he became the fifth quarterback in NFL history to record 3,000 passing yards in each of his first two seasons. He started seven games in 2014 and registered 1,694 passing yards. Last season, he was inactive 15 games and dressed but did not play in another.
He was released by Washington on March 7.
During Wednesday's NFC Coaches Breakfast, Redskins head coach Jay Gruden was peppered with questions about Griffin.
I think a change of scenery could be good for Robert, like anybody," Gruden said. Gruden insisted the team's decision to move on was less about RGIII and more about the future with Kirk Cousins. "It was never about Robert. It was about Kirk's emergence. ... I still think Robert can play in this league for sure," he said.
Gruden believes that injuries were to blame for Griffin's struggles and said he thinks the quarterback can bounce back given the opportunity. "I just think he had a couple injuries, which hampered his ability to perform at the high level he was his rookie year," Gruden said. "I think he's fully healthy now and I think he's ready to compete. He can do the zone read, he can drop for the bootleg and all that stuff that make him effective outside the pocket, but I think eventually he's going to have to master the drop back passing game in the NFL, which he needs to continue to do and he will do."
Gruden said he hadn't talked to Jackson about RGIII, but Cleveland's new coach worked under Gruden for one season in Cincinnati and Jackson has told reporters there are areas he feels he can improve Griffin's game.
We'll find out how confident Jackson is in that belief come April 29, when the Browns make the second-pick overall in the NFL Draft. But even if the Browns select Jared Goff or Carson Wentz with that pick, NFL.com's Jeff Darlington believes Griffin will be the team's Week 1 starter. ...
It might also be worth noting that Josh Gordon was Griffin's teammate at Baylor. Assuming Gordon is reinstated, the duo has a positive history. ...
Meanwhile, with Griffin in Cleveland there's one less trade option for 49ers QB Colin Kaepernick. In addition, a recent report suggesting the Jets might be interested in McCown as a fallback to the still unsigned Ryan Fitzpatrick becomes more realistic. Indeed, with Griffin on board, they can still draft their quarterback of the future, Wentz or Goff, with that No. 2 pick.
As ESPN.com's Rich Cimini speculated, if that's the case, McCown, due to make $4.4 million, is the likely odd man out.
The Jets, who met with McCown last February before trading for Fitzpatrick, would rather wait until he's released -- which seems inevitable. But that could be a few more weeks and the Rams and Broncos would likely be interested as well. The 36-year-old McCown is 18-39 as a starter.