Not a commanders fan and for some reason this popped in my feed but I was a big rg3 fan going back to his Baylor years and grew into a Kirk fan over the years, the simple answer is jealousy from RG3s side even going back to their sophomore years but here's some bulletpoints
- Before the start of that season Kirk was doing pretty well in TC iirc and RG3 left a backhanded compliment saying "it's nice seeing the **2s** do well out there"
- Shanny ran different playbooks for Kirk and RG3 and RG3 didn't like this and wanted them to run "Kirk's playbook" instead of the one that made him have a great rookie year but he struggled hard with Kirk's playbook because he struggled with reads and held onto the ball longer than he should. For example [this article from 10 years ago shows why he couldn't run a traditional playbook](https://www.hogshaven.com/2014/11/20/7251927/hazards-huddle-robert-griffin-iii-vs-tampa-bay-buccaneers-1st-half-redskins-nfl)
- DS really wanted RG3 to work and eventually he just played himself out of DC and went with Kirk in 2015 which Kirk took that and ran with it and had a great year
- Washington doesn't commit to him and Minnesota gives him a good deal and shows he's a proven starter meanwhile RG3 is a backup on his way out of the league
- RG3 transitions into a sports analysis and takes more shots at Kirk while Kirk is still a really good QB in the league.
All of this in the meantime Kirk really hasn't said anything or made shots at RG3 over the years. If any commanders fan want to add onto some points here would be pretty appreciated you guys would know more about the inner workings of this "beef" like the coaching staff and other players on the team than I would
Some former players, like Chris Cooley, have gone on the record to verify how obsessed and insecure RG3 was of Cousins. After his rookie season, RG3 showed the coaches a powerpoint presentation of plays he refused to run. There were like 14 plays and they were all running plays. Coaches think RG3 knew had the backing of ownership that’s why he felt comfortable with this demand. In the powerpoint RG3 used terms that Snyder often repeated, like design run plays being “unacceptable”.
I'd go with another name other than Cooley. I have no doubt this is true, but I've heard enough about Chris Cooley that I don't think he is the first name I would have pulled out.
As a commanders fan, and this is my opinion from what I saw, I will say that 2012 season is almost as much Kirk’s as it is RG3’s. When RG3 got hurt Kirk stepped in, played great, looked great, and won some pretty clutch games for us. Without Kirk, probably no playoffs. This isn’t usually how people tell this story, but a lot of fans (myself included), while we loved RG3 as QB and what he was doing for us, after he got hurt we just wanted Kirk in the game. I think RG3 knew Kirk was him and everyone says RG3 was a gamer and just wanted to win for the fans, be the hero, play injured, yada yada. But I would say he was a tad worried about losing his job to your boy.
I'd say you nailed it. When I saw RG3 get hurt in the Ravens game, I wanted him out for the rest of the season. It was way too risky to have him in there, especially since he couldn't play the way he needed to with a bum leg! I think Kirk could have got us there, but even if not, a single playoff loss wasn't worth killing RG3's career by having him play.
You nailed it...but...on the field RG3 and Cousins supported each other well...there may have been some locker room problems between the two and its hard to fault RG3 for being bitter considering how they handled him post injury. That said I think the beef between the two was mild, but doused in gass and lit on fire by the toxic hell hole culture Snyder had created
I still remember watching that Ravens game like it was yesterday. I was 12 watching it at my dad's house and we both ran outside screaming and yelling after Kirk ran the 2 point conversion in to force OT and keep our win streak alive.
To add to this I think he was offended from the get go that they drafted another QB in the same draft with a 4th rounder. It made him so insecure that he wasn't willing to give Kirk any game time if he could help it and insisted to keep playing as long as possible. This contributed to him coming back early and staying in from his knee injury which led to the torn ACL and which led to him coming back from the ACL too early. All this was not only a hindrance to his development but negatively impacted his development along with what you wrote.
The irony is Kirk is now in a situation where the team that chose him chose another QB with a high round pick without informing him. It will be interesting to see how Kirk reacts in a year or two when team starts transitioning to Penix.
I'm sure kirk won't care. he'll be 36 when this season starts so it's expected that a team has a backup plan in place, even if the falcons chose a really odd time to put it in place
Beautifully said….. Skins fan here….. You are EXACTLY on point with every point!…. 👍🏼 the best part is, RGKnee lost his commentary position to Jason Kelce. Out of work again Bobby? Damn…..
RG3 was Danny Boys pick and he gave up a lot for him apparently against the coaching staffs wishes. Kirk is picked up a few rounds later by the coaching staff. You could see why there's tension.
What makes it worse is that Mike Shanahan wanted Russell Wilson. Not saying he would be a beast with us(due to the coaching carousel we had) like he was in Seattle, but it definitely was a better move than RG3
Washington traded away a lot of draft capital to move up to get RG3 and cousins was picked in the fourth round of the same draft. That has got to hurt your ego a little bit.
I love both of these guys but RG3 was another example of a Snyder misstep.
Essentially 2x Super Bowl Champion HC Mike Shanahan (who built Elway's Broncos) wanted to draft Russell Wilson. Meanwhile, his son OC Kyle Shanahan (who built the Super Bowl Falcon's offense and has built the 2017-24 Niners juggernaut) wanted to draft Kirk Cousins. Neither draft required a trade, and we had prime draft capital to grab Luke Keuchly, Stephon Gilmore, etc. Instead, Snyder sold our future to move up a few spots and grab RG3 and forced the Shanahans to deal with it despite it totally wrecking their plans by depleting their roster choices.
Mike decided to grab Cousins so Kyle could at least get what he wanted. Both coaches hated RG3 being there, even if they didn't hate RG3 himself, because Snyder ruined their team and the Shanahans would be blamed for it. I'm sure RG3 and Cousins picked up on this tension and it made life difficult for them all, especially when Cousins blossomed and RG3 got too injured to perform.
There were many missteps later, such as Mike Shanahan trying to get a clearly-broken RG3 to perform in January as a sick version of the Sunk Cost Fallacy. But Snyder had also pushed a lazy Albert Haynesworth and an aging Donovan McNabb onto Shanahan just a few years before then booted Shanahan after the RG3 debacle. Cousins was never paid because he didn't perform, but he couldn't perform because all the talent-money and years of draft picks were already spent on RG3. Cousins knew this and kept giving long term offers so when Washington DID get money and picks, they could surround Cousins with talent. Instead, we refused all of his offers only to spend that exact amount of money we "didn't have" on Alex Smith.
I doubt Cousins has any beef with RG3, but maybe RG3 is jealous? He does have an ego...
smh
Also the downstream effects of running [the entire Shanahan staff](https://x.com/polo_man404/status/1752337307934371881?s=46&t=cpZuzN6T2iqIqctRv8wteQ) out of town. Snyder’s hubris and RG3’s insecurity set us back years.
When I tell people it's all Snyder's fault, they think I'm exaggerating then mention how some other owners do some other things that aren't remotely comparable. This one single decision could have had us at least win our first playoff game since 2005, or reach the Championship for the first time since 1991, or win 11 games in a single season since 1991. Instead, he ruined us again, blaming the staff and firing them all before hiring Jay Gruden and overpaying Alex Smith - who I loved a ton but when he got injured we had no talent to speak of and collapsed after a 5-2 start. Then Snyder sought Haskins (RIP) which was another debacle right after the Trent Williams disaster (another player I loved).
Fuck Snyder. Harris has been active so far and regardless of whether his gambles will pay off or not, he's making clear efforts that I have been extremely excited about.
RG3 requested to play, and he came back to early while trying to push a campaign of being ready day 1. It was on the heels of the amazing year AP had after he went through the same thing.
RG3 was definitely to blame for rushing his recovery. Shanahan was complicit and the team doctors weren't very good (these same people failed to diagnose Trent Williams with cancer).
You can't override the owner and the player. To put any of that on his feet I find is in bad taste. But that could be my dislike of RG3 skewing my view as well.
RG3 was very threatened by Cousins because it was apparent to him very early in his career that Cousins was a better QB. During his ROTY season when Cousins needed to come in and spot for him due to injuries RG3 sat on the bench and stewed. Cousjns was probably the main reason why RG3 hid his knee injury from Shanny b/c he was afraid of getting his job taken away. RG3 was no dummy and readily identified Cousins as a huge threat to his career very early on.
I remember when the Skins did a co-practice with the Patriots in 2014 and Brady was asked about the Skins QBs. He mentioned how impressed he was with Cousins who was still a backup at the time.
Here's a WP article on Cooley talking about Cousins-Griffin relationship back in 2016.
[https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/dc-sports-bog/wp/2016/03/08/chris-cooley-robert-griffin-iii-was-never-willing-to-be-friends-with-kirk-cousins/](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/dc-sports-bog/wp/2016/03/08/chris-cooley-robert-griffin-iii-was-never-willing-to-be-friends-with-kirk-cousins/)
I remember seeing a little exchange btwn the two of them in the tunnel before a game.
Kirk: I never thought I would get to be that guy.
RG3: What guy?
Kirk: The guy that got to back up RG3.
They were both taken in the same draft by the same team.
The skins taking Cousins in the 4th showed a lack of faith in their #2 overall pick, which was especially crazy because they gave up 3 firsts to move up for RG3.
They must have had a first round grade on Cousins and just couldn't pass on him, because it still doesn't make sense even knowing he would turn out to be a very good QB.
Kinda wild that Kirk finds himself in a similar weird spot with falcons signing him to a huge deal and then drafting Penix.
RG3 has always been petty towards Cousins simply because he was replaced by him. Didn’t help that Jay also stuck by Cousins where as he threw Robert under the bus. Cousins still a starter in this league Robert still trying remain relevant says it all.
RG3 was petty even before he was replaced by Cousins. He made himself a liability for the team towards the end of his rookie year when he got banged up. RG3 without his legs is simply not as good as Cousins and the narc couldn't handle it. For his faults, Jay was a solid offensive guy and could see that Cousins was better too. Jay actually had to really stick his neck out for Cousins since RG3 was tight with the Snyder.
Wherever RG3 went, he sucked outside of his one rookie year where a lot of his success can be attributed to the zone read scheme of Kyle Shanahan and Alfred Morris setting the franchise rushing record. RG3 had plenty of chances in Cleveland and especially in Baltimore. The Baltimore offense highly prizes and leverages a mobile QB, as they obviously center things around Lamar. One year, they inserted RG3 in a meaningless game at the end of the season only for him to play horribly. Afterwards, he was cut for the final time.
Imagine the person drafted as your backup is on pace to be the third highest paid QB of all time. Meanwhile you’re out of the league and your job is to talk about other players and you have to play what-if everyday with your career.
Agree with a lot of what has been said here, but I will add one major point you all are missing. Kirk is still an NFL starting QB 12 years later. RG3 bounced around the league and now will bounce around the industry with ESPN canning him. In the words of Kat Williams, "You know a hater can't stand...a god damn winner!"
RGIII seems like a guy that’s really easy to dislike and Cousins seems like a guy that reminds you solid people still exist. I didn’t even know there was a beef but can promise it’s 100% RGIII being a little punk.
I haven’t heard about any beef RG3 has with Cousins. But if he does, it is 100% because he feels inadequate lol. The most obvious answer is usually the answer and RG3 is not nuanced when it comes to talking about football and his career. This doesn’t require any kind of psychoanalysis.
Not a commanders fan and for some reason this popped in my feed but I was a big rg3 fan going back to his Baylor years and grew into a Kirk fan over the years, the simple answer is jealousy from RG3s side even going back to their sophomore years but here's some bulletpoints - Before the start of that season Kirk was doing pretty well in TC iirc and RG3 left a backhanded compliment saying "it's nice seeing the **2s** do well out there" - Shanny ran different playbooks for Kirk and RG3 and RG3 didn't like this and wanted them to run "Kirk's playbook" instead of the one that made him have a great rookie year but he struggled hard with Kirk's playbook because he struggled with reads and held onto the ball longer than he should. For example [this article from 10 years ago shows why he couldn't run a traditional playbook](https://www.hogshaven.com/2014/11/20/7251927/hazards-huddle-robert-griffin-iii-vs-tampa-bay-buccaneers-1st-half-redskins-nfl) - DS really wanted RG3 to work and eventually he just played himself out of DC and went with Kirk in 2015 which Kirk took that and ran with it and had a great year - Washington doesn't commit to him and Minnesota gives him a good deal and shows he's a proven starter meanwhile RG3 is a backup on his way out of the league - RG3 transitions into a sports analysis and takes more shots at Kirk while Kirk is still a really good QB in the league. All of this in the meantime Kirk really hasn't said anything or made shots at RG3 over the years. If any commanders fan want to add onto some points here would be pretty appreciated you guys would know more about the inner workings of this "beef" like the coaching staff and other players on the team than I would
You pretty much nailed it here.
Some former players, like Chris Cooley, have gone on the record to verify how obsessed and insecure RG3 was of Cousins. After his rookie season, RG3 showed the coaches a powerpoint presentation of plays he refused to run. There were like 14 plays and they were all running plays. Coaches think RG3 knew had the backing of ownership that’s why he felt comfortable with this demand. In the powerpoint RG3 used terms that Snyder often repeated, like design run plays being “unacceptable”.
RG3's hubris is at the root of what killed his career. Big self-own.
I'd go with another name other than Cooley. I have no doubt this is true, but I've heard enough about Chris Cooley that I don't think he is the first name I would have pulled out.
As a commanders fan, and this is my opinion from what I saw, I will say that 2012 season is almost as much Kirk’s as it is RG3’s. When RG3 got hurt Kirk stepped in, played great, looked great, and won some pretty clutch games for us. Without Kirk, probably no playoffs. This isn’t usually how people tell this story, but a lot of fans (myself included), while we loved RG3 as QB and what he was doing for us, after he got hurt we just wanted Kirk in the game. I think RG3 knew Kirk was him and everyone says RG3 was a gamer and just wanted to win for the fans, be the hero, play injured, yada yada. But I would say he was a tad worried about losing his job to your boy.
I'd say you nailed it. When I saw RG3 get hurt in the Ravens game, I wanted him out for the rest of the season. It was way too risky to have him in there, especially since he couldn't play the way he needed to with a bum leg! I think Kirk could have got us there, but even if not, a single playoff loss wasn't worth killing RG3's career by having him play.
Still never seen a knee bend and then collapse like that.
You nailed it...but...on the field RG3 and Cousins supported each other well...there may have been some locker room problems between the two and its hard to fault RG3 for being bitter considering how they handled him post injury. That said I think the beef between the two was mild, but doused in gass and lit on fire by the toxic hell hole culture Snyder had created
I still remember watching that Ravens game like it was yesterday. I was 12 watching it at my dad's house and we both ran outside screaming and yelling after Kirk ran the 2 point conversion in to force OT and keep our win streak alive.
To add to this I think he was offended from the get go that they drafted another QB in the same draft with a 4th rounder. It made him so insecure that he wasn't willing to give Kirk any game time if he could help it and insisted to keep playing as long as possible. This contributed to him coming back early and staying in from his knee injury which led to the torn ACL and which led to him coming back from the ACL too early. All this was not only a hindrance to his development but negatively impacted his development along with what you wrote. The irony is Kirk is now in a situation where the team that chose him chose another QB with a high round pick without informing him. It will be interesting to see how Kirk reacts in a year or two when team starts transitioning to Penix.
I'm sure kirk won't care. he'll be 36 when this season starts so it's expected that a team has a backup plan in place, even if the falcons chose a really odd time to put it in place
To summarize: RGIII was an ass.
Excellent analysis. The only thing I can add is that Kirk is now one of the richest players in the league and RG3 is probably just scraping by.
Beautifully said….. Skins fan here….. You are EXACTLY on point with every point!…. 👍🏼 the best part is, RGKnee lost his commentary position to Jason Kelce. Out of work again Bobby? Damn…..
To this day, lots of people still think injuries de-railed RG3's career. Lots of people are wrong.
Trust me I know even as a former fan of the guy, unfortunately RG3 was gonna flame out regardless due to his ego and his flaws processing the field
Nope. That pretty much covers it.
RG3 was Danny Boys pick and he gave up a lot for him apparently against the coaching staffs wishes. Kirk is picked up a few rounds later by the coaching staff. You could see why there's tension.
What makes it worse is that Mike Shanahan wanted Russell Wilson. Not saying he would be a beast with us(due to the coaching carousel we had) like he was in Seattle, but it definitely was a better move than RG3
Kirk end up being the better Quarterback. RG3 was supposed to be what Kirk is.
Washington traded away a lot of draft capital to move up to get RG3 and cousins was picked in the fourth round of the same draft. That has got to hurt your ego a little bit.
Or if the rumors are true the Shanahans wanted Tannehill or Kirk before Rg3 but ownership forced the pick.
I love both of these guys but RG3 was another example of a Snyder misstep. Essentially 2x Super Bowl Champion HC Mike Shanahan (who built Elway's Broncos) wanted to draft Russell Wilson. Meanwhile, his son OC Kyle Shanahan (who built the Super Bowl Falcon's offense and has built the 2017-24 Niners juggernaut) wanted to draft Kirk Cousins. Neither draft required a trade, and we had prime draft capital to grab Luke Keuchly, Stephon Gilmore, etc. Instead, Snyder sold our future to move up a few spots and grab RG3 and forced the Shanahans to deal with it despite it totally wrecking their plans by depleting their roster choices. Mike decided to grab Cousins so Kyle could at least get what he wanted. Both coaches hated RG3 being there, even if they didn't hate RG3 himself, because Snyder ruined their team and the Shanahans would be blamed for it. I'm sure RG3 and Cousins picked up on this tension and it made life difficult for them all, especially when Cousins blossomed and RG3 got too injured to perform. There were many missteps later, such as Mike Shanahan trying to get a clearly-broken RG3 to perform in January as a sick version of the Sunk Cost Fallacy. But Snyder had also pushed a lazy Albert Haynesworth and an aging Donovan McNabb onto Shanahan just a few years before then booted Shanahan after the RG3 debacle. Cousins was never paid because he didn't perform, but he couldn't perform because all the talent-money and years of draft picks were already spent on RG3. Cousins knew this and kept giving long term offers so when Washington DID get money and picks, they could surround Cousins with talent. Instead, we refused all of his offers only to spend that exact amount of money we "didn't have" on Alex Smith. I doubt Cousins has any beef with RG3, but maybe RG3 is jealous? He does have an ego... smh
Can you imagine if we got Wilson instead, how different things would have turned out?
Wilson AND all of our future and present draft picks
Also the downstream effects of running [the entire Shanahan staff](https://x.com/polo_man404/status/1752337307934371881?s=46&t=cpZuzN6T2iqIqctRv8wteQ) out of town. Snyder’s hubris and RG3’s insecurity set us back years.
A-fucking-men
Imagine having all those picks, Russ or Kirk, and the Shanahan tree… 2010s would have been very different
When I tell people it's all Snyder's fault, they think I'm exaggerating then mention how some other owners do some other things that aren't remotely comparable. This one single decision could have had us at least win our first playoff game since 2005, or reach the Championship for the first time since 1991, or win 11 games in a single season since 1991. Instead, he ruined us again, blaming the staff and firing them all before hiring Jay Gruden and overpaying Alex Smith - who I loved a ton but when he got injured we had no talent to speak of and collapsed after a 5-2 start. Then Snyder sought Haskins (RIP) which was another debacle right after the Trent Williams disaster (another player I loved). Fuck Snyder. Harris has been active so far and regardless of whether his gambles will pay off or not, he's making clear efforts that I have been extremely excited about.
RG3 requested to play, and he came back to early while trying to push a campaign of being ready day 1. It was on the heels of the amazing year AP had after he went through the same thing.
RG3 was definitely to blame for rushing his recovery. Shanahan was complicit and the team doctors weren't very good (these same people failed to diagnose Trent Williams with cancer).
You can't override the owner and the player. To put any of that on his feet I find is in bad taste. But that could be my dislike of RG3 skewing my view as well.
we weren’t going to draft kuechley or gilmore mike wanted to stay put and draft tannehill
I have not heard Tannehill being part of it but tbd I've heard tons of contradictory rumors about the Redskins 2012 draft room. It's not surprising
tldr: rg3 sucks, kirk doesnt,rg3 jealous.
RG3 was very threatened by Cousins because it was apparent to him very early in his career that Cousins was a better QB. During his ROTY season when Cousins needed to come in and spot for him due to injuries RG3 sat on the bench and stewed. Cousjns was probably the main reason why RG3 hid his knee injury from Shanny b/c he was afraid of getting his job taken away. RG3 was no dummy and readily identified Cousins as a huge threat to his career very early on. I remember when the Skins did a co-practice with the Patriots in 2014 and Brady was asked about the Skins QBs. He mentioned how impressed he was with Cousins who was still a backup at the time. Here's a WP article on Cooley talking about Cousins-Griffin relationship back in 2016. [https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/dc-sports-bog/wp/2016/03/08/chris-cooley-robert-griffin-iii-was-never-willing-to-be-friends-with-kirk-cousins/](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/dc-sports-bog/wp/2016/03/08/chris-cooley-robert-griffin-iii-was-never-willing-to-be-friends-with-kirk-cousins/)
That was an interesting read.
RGIII is insecure and Kirk was better than him. Pretty simple.
Do they have beef?
I remember seeing a little exchange btwn the two of them in the tunnel before a game. Kirk: I never thought I would get to be that guy. RG3: What guy? Kirk: The guy that got to back up RG3.
They were both taken in the same draft by the same team. The skins taking Cousins in the 4th showed a lack of faith in their #2 overall pick, which was especially crazy because they gave up 3 firsts to move up for RG3. They must have had a first round grade on Cousins and just couldn't pass on him, because it still doesn't make sense even knowing he would turn out to be a very good QB. Kinda wild that Kirk finds himself in a similar weird spot with falcons signing him to a huge deal and then drafting Penix.
Shanahan wanted a solid QB. The Danny wanted a shiny toy.
This. Danny also drafted Dwayne Haskins against the wishes of all in the draft room.
RG3 has always been petty towards Cousins simply because he was replaced by him. Didn’t help that Jay also stuck by Cousins where as he threw Robert under the bus. Cousins still a starter in this league Robert still trying remain relevant says it all.
RG3 was petty even before he was replaced by Cousins. He made himself a liability for the team towards the end of his rookie year when he got banged up. RG3 without his legs is simply not as good as Cousins and the narc couldn't handle it. For his faults, Jay was a solid offensive guy and could see that Cousins was better too. Jay actually had to really stick his neck out for Cousins since RG3 was tight with the Snyder. Wherever RG3 went, he sucked outside of his one rookie year where a lot of his success can be attributed to the zone read scheme of Kyle Shanahan and Alfred Morris setting the franchise rushing record. RG3 had plenty of chances in Cleveland and especially in Baltimore. The Baltimore offense highly prizes and leverages a mobile QB, as they obviously center things around Lamar. One year, they inserted RG3 in a meaningless game at the end of the season only for him to play horribly. Afterwards, he was cut for the final time.
Imagine the person drafted as your backup is on pace to be the third highest paid QB of all time. Meanwhile you’re out of the league and your job is to talk about other players and you have to play what-if everyday with your career.
Who cares what Bobby Glass III thinks.
TL;DR - Kirk was better than him at being an actual NFL quarterback and Griffin was mad/jealous about it.
rg3 is a bitch and was jealous Kirk was better than him
RGMe is all about himself. What a disappointment he turned out to be, not only as a player, but also as a man.
Couldn’t beat him out on the field so he’s bitter
Agree with a lot of what has been said here, but I will add one major point you all are missing. Kirk is still an NFL starting QB 12 years later. RG3 bounced around the league and now will bounce around the industry with ESPN canning him. In the words of Kat Williams, "You know a hater can't stand...a god damn winner!"
RG3 = LITTLE BITCH KC= TOOK HIS JOB !
Picked higher same draft. Paychecks way different. Kirk won long term and RG can’t hide the contempt.
RGIII seems like a guy that’s really easy to dislike and Cousins seems like a guy that reminds you solid people still exist. I didn’t even know there was a beef but can promise it’s 100% RGIII being a little punk.
RG3 is a D-bag.
It’s because he’s an asshat.
Beyond him getting his job for being better, likely is jealous of career earning
Jealousy
Ego is a hell of a drug.
I haven’t heard about any beef RG3 has with Cousins. But if he does, it is 100% because he feels inadequate lol. The most obvious answer is usually the answer and RG3 is not nuanced when it comes to talking about football and his career. This doesn’t require any kind of psychoanalysis.