The question elicited a long chuckle and a slight shake of the head. And, really, Washington Redskins quarterback Robert Griffin III reacted the only way he could when Fox News Sunday's Chris Wallace asked him if his feelings were hurt over talk that the Redskins might be interested in drafting a quarterback (Oregon quarterback Marcus Mariota) the unspoken target). Wallace interviewed Griffin for a segment that aired Sunday, talking about his foundation, Family of 3.
More on that in a moment. First, the only response that pertained to football came after the Mariota query:
“C’mon man,” Griffin said, laughing. “The way I look at it is as long as I’m here with the Washington Redskins and they say I’m the guy, then I’m the guy. I’m ready to go."
It's the only answer Griffin could, and should, give. No athlete should publicly say their feelings are hurt by talk of a team bringing in another player. And the thing with Griffin, after all that's been said and written about him the past two years, any speculation on Mariota should just be another thing for him to ignore. Griffin has been through too much already to be hurt by such talk. And his only concern at this point should be on improving his game, not what anyone is saying or speculating.
Anyway, here are some other highlights from the interview (the Washington Post's Dan Steinberg has more on it here):
On the foundation: "We will give them money, but we’re also going to give them our time, our networks, and allow them to continually grow, to not only get to where they want to be, but to maintain that. To incorporate them into the everyday process of what a family is, whether it’s Thanksgiving dinner, Easter celebrations, those kind of things. We want to be able to let them enjoy that, and let us enjoy it, too.”
On working toward a Master's degree in communications (he's also considering law school; having been around him for three years, it's easy to see that his post-playing days will be spent trying to do meaningful work): “I just try to make sure every day that I’m blessed to live on this earth, that I seize that day,” Griffin told Wallace. “I’m 25, and I know with each passing second I’m getting older. So I might as well seize every single one of those seconds, make sure I’m doing as much as I possibly can in the community. … And to instill that into everybody around me is truly my goal.”