Fran Tarkenton rips Robert Griffin III: 'He will never make it'
If Hall of Fame quarterback Fran Tarkenton doesn't think much of your abilities as an NFL quarterback, he has no problem speaking his mind.
A.J. McCarron knows all about this. As does Tim Tebow and, yep, Brett Favre. And so does Robert Griffin III and Mike Shanahan, especially after Tarkenton went negative after the Redskins lost their 2012 playoff game to the Seahawks.
Now, during an interview with theMMQB.com's Jenny Vrentas, Tarkenton took another crack at Griffin, who's lost his starting Redskins job to Colt McCoy and who very well could be off the team before 2015.
Tarketon says he proclaimed two years ago that Griffin wouldn't make it, and one big reason why is because of the quarterback's attitude.
"He came into the league with an arrogance," Tarkenton said. "He goes into Washington, which is the worst place for him to go. They have been so hungry for a quarterback and for winning. They worshipped him. Here's RG3; he's our savior, he's our guy. His father gets involved and is in the locker room -- I have never seen a father in a locker room on Sundays. The owner, Dan Snyder, adopts him and becomes his best friend. So RG3, at 21, 22, thought he was Jesus, right? And he was making pontifical statements about how he approached the game. I was listening to him the offseason after his rookie year, which was not a bad year, and I'm saying, 'Holy s---, this guy is out of control with his ego.' That was the first sign you saw that he lacked leadership."
So, um, wow. What else you got?
"He was so into himself," Tarkenton said. "You know a quarterback's job? Make his teammates better. It's not about you; it's about your teammates. You've got to make them better, and if you don't make them better, you have no chance. And he was all about RG3. I sympathize with Jay Gruden. Gruden came out and pointed out, which is right, that he has no mechanics. He is a terrible passer, has no accuracy, he doesn't understand the offense, he doesn't read defenses, and he has no discipline. When he is supposed to take a 3-yard drop, he takes a 1-yard drop; if he is supposed to take a 5-yard drop, it's a 3-yard drop. There's no discipline and understanding of the defense because he is a pontificator. He will never make it. He will be out of football. He will be in the same graveyard as JaMarcus Russell and Vince Young."
As for the league's rookie quarterbacks, here's a quick synopsis of Tarkenton's thoughts.
Johnny Manziel: He's needs to prove he can be the right kind of locker room leader.
Teddy Bridgewater: It's unclear. He hasn't played great, but he hasn't played terribly.
Blake Bortles: "The jury is still out."
Derek Carr: "The jury is still out."
So, he doesn't really like anybody, huh?
"That's not a negative when I say the jury's still out," Tarkenton said. "In many [other] cases, after we see them play, the jury says 'no.' In these cases, I don't think the jury says 'no' on any of these quarterbacks, but they haven't played well enough to say 'yes,' either."