Redskins Shut Robert Griffin III Down For The Rest Of The Season

Update:

Robert Griffin III told reporters on Wednesday that HC Mike Shanahan has made the decision to shut him down for the rest of the season.

“I’m sure everybody knows by know that coach decided to shut me down for the rest of the season. I expressed my desire to play,” Griffin said. “At the end of the day, coach’s decision is what we go with. That’s the way it’s always been. It’s my job to help Kirk win.”

Kirk Cousins will get his shot to prove what he can do in the remaining three games of the season. Cousins told reports that this remains Griffin’s team, despite the change at quarterback.

“This is Robert’s team,” Cousins said. “He is the franchise quarterback.”

Here’s Mike Shanahan on the decision shut RGIII down for the season:

“I talked to Dan Snyder about a week ago about number of hits Griffin has had,” said Shanahan. 

“Sometimes when you’re getting hit repeatedly, you have to look at risk/reward. I thought (Griffin’s) hits were piling up on him. I thought we put a lot of pressure on him this year, and he has a lot of experience to help, but (this) offseason will be key.”

Shanahan mentioned multiple times that owner Dan Snyder and GM Bruce Allen are 100 percent behind the decision to shelve RGIII.

“I know (Griffin) won’t understand,” Shanahan said. “He won’t. I understand that. But maybe in two years (or sometime in future), he will.”

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John Keim of ESPN.com reports that a high-ranking team official has confirmed that the Redskins will replace Robert Griffin III as their starting quarterback in favor of Kirk Cousins.

• Jay Glazer first reported that the “thinking inside the Redskins building” is that HC Mike Shanahan would start Cousins Sunday “unless RG3 is able to convince him otherwise.“

Jeff Darlington of the NFL Network reports that Redskins players have been informed that RGIII will be inactive for Week 15’s game and Rex Grossman will backup Cousins on Sunday.

During the portion of Wednesday’s practice that was available to the media, Cousins took all of the first-team snaps while Grossman worked with the No. 2 offense.

Shanahan told reporters earlier in the week that a decision was expected today, and wouldn’t rule out the possibility of going with Cousins and not risking an injury to RGIII. While that may be the case to some degree, there are clearly deeper issues between Shanahan and the owner Dan Snyder.

All indications are that Shanahan will be fired at the end of the season, despite the fact that he is owned another $7 million.