NEW YORK -- The Heisman Trophy was an unforgettable honor for Robert Griffin III. But truth be told, lots of people have won it (76, to be exact).
Having Subway concoct a statue made out of sandwich ingredients in his likeness?
Now that’s a rare honor.
Subway unveiled a life-size “Smokehouse BBQ Chicken” statue on Tuesday as a celebration of Griffin, joining Justin Tuck, Michael Strahan, Ndamukong Suh, Blake Griffin and Michael Phelps as endorsers of the popular sandwich chain.
More than 300 pieces of Subway chicken were used to create the statue, which stands about 3 feet tall and bears a resemblance to the Heisman winner.
“When I saw it, I just laughed,” Griffin said. “The smokehouse BBQ chicken sub has six grams of fat. That doesn’t have six grams of fat. That’s a whole lot of fat in that.”
The statue, created by sandwich artist James Victor of Conshohocken, Penn., is mostly a mix of bread and chicken, with some tomatoes, lettuce and onions in the shoulder pads. The braids were made of peppers.
Handling questions from a sea of aggressive New York media at a Subway restaurant on 29th Street, the likely D.C.-bound quarterback came across like a polished politician when asked about the upcoming NFL draft and his future with the Washington Redskins.
“I know expectations will be high, but you want that kind of pressure, you want those kind of expectations and you want that kind of excitement,” Griffin said when asked about the high expectations placed on him by the D.C. fans. “Pressure is what you feel when you don’t know what you’re doing.”
When asked about being a team leader as a rookie, Griffin said he still has to earn the respect of his teammates.
“You can’t come in thinking that you’re the big dog,” he said. “Yeah, I might be the second pick. Yeah, I might be who the fans want as a quarterback and who the coaches want as a quarterback. But I still have to go beat out Rex Grossman. Rex Grossman is the quarterback of Washington right now and I have to go beat him out. I have to prove to those guys I’m there to work. And I will.”
A reporter asked if Griffin felt the Colts were making a mistake by picking Andrew Luck first overall.
“The Colts feel the other guy is better for them, and you have to respect that, and I do respect it,” Griffin said. “I wanted to be the No. 1 pick, but I’m the No. 1 pick for the Washington Redskins.”
Griffin may not be the No. 1 pick, but he’ll always have the chicken statue.