The last few years have not been kind to Robert Griffin III; after an incredible debut season in which he won the Offensive Rookie Of The Year Award, constant injuries and a fair share of woe have befallen him.
That award, however distant it may seem, still stands for something however. In the last 10 years, most of those who have won it have gone on to have very successful careers in the league, such as Ben Roethlisberger, Cam Newton, Adrian Peterson and Matt Ryan. It's not very often that it's given to someone who didn't earn it.
However, looking at Griffin's career since the start of the season immediately after he was crowned the hottest prospect in the league would paint a very different picture. A horrible injury, surrounded by controversy as to whether he had been cleared to play by the team doctor James Andrews, saw him undergo surgery to repair his LCL and ACL.
A return in 2013 wasn't much better, as he registered the first ever game of his collegiate or professional career where he didn't score a touchdown, and he eventually lost the starter's job to Kirk Cousins.
There were flashes of improvement in 2014, but he was carted off the field with a dislocated ankle once again in Week 2 and was dropped for a number of games, before eventually seeing out the season and finding a small bit of form.
This year, it's become clear that his time at Washington is most certainly over. While it appears that owner Dan Snyder still has a soft spot for him, head coach Jay Gruden has made it more than obvious that he doesn't want him at the team.
Mark Tenally / AP/Press Association Images
Griffin didn't exactly help himself when he told the media during the preseason "I feel like I’m the best quarterback in the league", which was a line that was taken out of context, but still brought him unwanted headlines that the NFL community likes to refer to as "a distraction".
For Dallas, they might be 2-0 to date, but they're running out of space in the physio room as star receiver Dez Bryant and now qaurterback Tony Romo are likely to be out for most of the rest of the season. That leaves back up quarterback Brandon Weeden, whose record of 5-16 as a starting QB is hardly likely to inspire confidence for a team that looks like they have a real shot at going all the way, even if it is too early to make any judgement at this point.
Tony Gutierrez / AP/Press Association Images
As a Texas boy himself (via Japan and Tacoma), the homecoming element to the Griffin story is enough to mean that the Cowboys would get plenty of publicity out of it and may well sell a few extra shirts with 'Griffin III' on the back, something that owner Jerry Jones surely wouldn't object to, but in footballing terms it also makes sense.
Michael Perez / AP/Press Association Images
They would be buying low, extremely low, on a player that in 2013 was voted the best offensive player in the game, and who has had to battle back from season ending injuries and major surgery, but also against a coach who doesn't want him on the team.
That's as tough physically as it is mentally, and while it's not exactly a "flier" due to the fact that his contracted is weighted to pay him a bumper $16 million next season, making negotiations a bit tricky, it's hard to see past the fact that one team needs a quarterback and one team wants to get rid of one.
Gruden has tried to turn Griffin into something that he simply isn't: a pocket passer who doesn't use his own initiative. Judging by the trust put in Tony Romo by coach Jason Garrett and offensive play caller Scott Linehan to play it as he reads it, Griffin could flourish in a system that could benefit from being able to set up the play action pass.
His own ability to make plays with reasonably accurate deep passing and the option of taking off on his own for the line would change the number of options at the Cowboys' disposal, meaning they might not necessarily have to scramble about to pick up a wide-receiver to fill the Bryant shaped hole in their offense.
There is a potential downside to Griffin of course, and it might turn out that his rookie season was the exception rather than the norm. With few weapons at his disposal aside from an ageing Jason Witten, it might not be possible for Griffin to rescue Dallas' season, and there doesn't seem to be much consistency in the backfield for him to depend on and help him find his feet in those tricky first few games. Rather, Garret and co. look like they're opting for a running back by committee.
That said, with the chance of such a high upside and the possibility that a fresh start could revive his stalling career, there's one clear outcome that makes sense for both parties. Whether it will happen or not is another story.
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