The Washington Redskins, Mike Shanahan and Robert Griffin III haven't won many games this season, but they've been incredibly productive in leaking stories to the media about each other.
The latest comes from Jason Cole at Bleacher Report. In this episode of the NFL's most melodramatic soap opera, multiple team sources want the world to know that Griffin is stubborn and his father is meddling.
The most startling revelation in the story is that Griffin's father has been telling owner Daniel Snyder to hire Baylor coach Art Briles. Griffin, the Redskins' quarterback, played for Briles in college.
"In recent weeks, according to two sources close to the situation, the elder Griffin has politicked Snyder to hire Baylor coach Art Briles, who coached the younger Griffin to a Heisman Trophy, to replace Shanahan," according to the Bleacher Report story.
Stories like this are harmful in a few ways, but that's probably the point.
It paints Griffin's father in a bad light. It makes the Redskins biggest superstar look bad, a complete turn from the glowing stories of 2012 when he was offensive rookie of the year. It also means that even if Briles was the best man to take over for Shanahan (assuming the coach will be fired, which seems like a foregone conclusion), hiring him would make it look like Snyder is giving in to Griffin's father's whims, and thereby letting his franchise quarterback call the shots in the organization. There are great reasons to hire Briles, a dynamic offensive coach who obviously knows how to get the most out of Griffin's talents. But now he would come to the Redskins with baggage.
The report brought about a round of denials because the spin with the Redskins never ends. Redskins sources flatly denied to the Washington Post that the Bleacher Report story was true.
Pretty obvious smear job when @NBCdianna, @john_keim @DavidSmoak and I all get denials from wide range of sources w little to no crossover
