Free-agent quarterback Robert Griffin III left Browns headquarters Saturday without a contract, but he also left a good impression on coach Hue Jackson.
Jackson confirmed Griffin’s previously reported visit with the team during an interview Sunday with NFL Network.
“It was a great meeting. I think he’s obviously a tremendous talent and a great young man,” Jackson said from the NFL owners meetings in Boca Raton, Fla., where he’s scheduled to meet with local beat writers later this week. “He had a lot of success early in Washington, and then things just didn’t work out. Those things happen in the National Football League.”
In addition to hosting Griffin in Berea, the organization with 24 starting quarterbacks since 1999 has made phone calls seeking character references for him. It’s a clear sign the Browns are still interested enough in Griffin to thoroughly investigate whether he would fit well with them. The former No. 2 overall draft pick spent the past four seasons with Washington and was cut on March 7. He didn’t take a single snap last year.
“We are going through our process,” Jackson said. “We are going to be very diligent in what we are doing — trying to make sure that we put the right quarterbacks on our football team and in that quarterback room. And that’s one of my biggest responsibilities and also one of our organization’s biggest responsibilities.”
Although the Browns have the second overall pick in next month’s draft and could use it to secure either California’s Jared Goff or North Dakota State’s Carson Wentz as their quarterback of the future, they want to do their due diligence on available veterans, too.
They have also expressed interest in trading with the San Francisco 49ers for quarterback Colin Kaepernick, though those talks have stalled. The Browns are willing to surrender their third-round pick (No. 65 overall) for Kaepernick, but only if he’ll agree to a pay cut, per reports. An agreement has yet to be worked out, and the Denver Broncos are another suitor.
“I can’t comment on players on other teams,” Jackson said when asked about the stalled trade talks involving Kaepernick. “But it is where it is and eventually I think all those things will show itself.”
Griffin, 26, and Kaepernick, 28, are reclamation projects with many more injuries than triumphs in the past year. But they’re still young, and both of them were quarterbacks for playoff teams a few seasons ago.
Nate Ulrich can be reached at nulrich@thebeaconjournal.com. Read the Browns blog at www.ohio.com/browns. Follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/NateUlrichABJ and on Facebook www.facebook.com/abj.sports.
