Robert Griffin III was nearly Tom Brady

Robert Griffin III was THAT close to becoming part of the Washington Commanders’ ownership group with Josh Harris.

Had that been the case, he would’ve been Tom Brady before Tom Brady . It wasn’t the same situation per se, but Griffin sees the irony in how a similar situation has played out in Las Vegas and in the Fox Sports broadcasting booth.

And for the record, Griffin wanted to make it inherently clear during his Awful Announcing Podcast appearance that despite other analysts joking that he created a GoFundMe to raise funds, it was an actual real thing that happened. Griffin helped Harris raise money to buy the Commanders. Not Harris’ personal pocketbook, but bringing people to the table to join the ownership group.

“The reason I did not join the group, which I’m saying is funny now, was because of the situation with Tom Brady,” Griffin tells AA podcast host Brandon Contes. “So, I was an analyst at ESPN, and to continue to be an analyst and be able to cover NFL teams, it would’ve been problematic to be in an ownership group of a team while calling games or doing studio work for that team. That’s the reason I wasn’t in the group.

“Tom Brady is now a top analyst for Fox and a minority owner for the Las Vegas Raiders, but that’s not something I bat an eye at. One, it’s Tom Brady. Tom Brady’s the greatest quarterback of all-time and he can do whatever the hell he wants to do. But for me, I’m always going to support the team.

“If there’s an opportunity in the future to join or be a minority owner, Josh knows that I’m 100 percent interested in that. I know Kevin Durant has talked about wanting to become a minority owner of the team. That is certainly, I would say, a possibility. I have a great relationship with Josh Harris and the group, Magic Johnson.

“So, we’ll see, but it’s not something I’m pressing or pushing the medal for because I want to be a broadcaster and do it to the best of my ability. And if that means not joining the Washington Commanders ownership group because I can’t have access to certain things, then I’m OK with that. But, if they come to me in the future, I’ll certainly be ready to make that happen because that would be a dream come true. I’m never going to shy away from that.”

Contes asked Griffin how difficult he thinks it’s for Brady to call games for Fox without unparalleled access.

Griffin took a few seconds before answering, ultimately deciding that he himself values the aspect of getting information that’s not readily available online or by word of mouth. To Griffin, it’s an added bonus for analysts who want to help paint a picture with storytelling.

But that’s also not why Fox hired Brady.

“My question to you would be, do you feel like Tom Brady, at this point in his NFL broadcasting career, is a storyteller about the players that he’s covering?” asked Griffin.

“No,” Contes replied.

“Exactly, so, in Tom Brady’s situation, where he’s more so breaking down the play, he’s telling stories about his career because he’s the greatest quarterback of all time, and I think people want to hear it from his perspective,” added Griffin. “I don’t think it hurts him based off of what he has been doing to this point. In the future, if he becomes more of a storyteller about the players, could it hurt? Yes, that would definitely limit your ability to do those things.

“Is he predicting plays? I haven’t heard a game where Brady’s predicted plays. I heard him tell you what he would do, but I haven’t heard him tell you what the other team was going to do. Because if he was doing that, yes, going to practice on Friday and you see a red zone play and then you see them lineup in the same formation on game day, yes, you’re going to be able to call that game out because you just watched it. So, I just think for what he’s doing right now, I don’t think it hurts him.

“And he can do whatever he wants. Whatever a TV network allows you to do, that’s what you can do. Get drunk on-air, say cuss words on-air, talk about religion in a negative way — whatever it may be. If they allow you to do it, you can do it. That’s the bottom line, and that’s new age media that we live in. And it’s your decision whether you think that’s good or not.”

According to RG3, ESPN wasn’t going to let that fly.

“That was not gonna happen,” he said. “That was the conversation that was had. Not with ESPN; I’m never going to throw anything out there that’s not factually correct. That conversation was never approached by ESPN, but I was told unequivocally that would not happen.”

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