Football
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Few people in football history would know better what it is like to play with a knee injury as a mobile quarterback than Robert Griffin III, and the former Washington quarterback and current ESPN commentator backed Lamar Jackson sitting out Sunday’s playoff game against the Cincinnati Bengals.
Griffin shared a message of his own knee injury that he said “changed the trajectory of my career” and supported the Baltimore Ravens quarterbacks’ decision:
Robert Griffin III @RGIII
This is why you don’t just put a brace on it and play. Played with no ACL and LCL for my brothers/team. Changed the trajectory of my career. Hindsight is 20/20. I didn’t have the luxury of that. Lamar does. He is DOING THE RIGHT THING. pic.twitter.com/UPY5pKNOcH
Jackson has not played since the Ravens’ Dec. 4 win over the Denver Broncos because of a knee injury.
Speculation that he has not played in part because of his contract situation with free agency potentially looming this offseason reached a point that Baltimore head coach John Harbaugh had to dismiss the notion when asked about it.
On Thursday, Jackson tweeted that his knee is still “unstable” because of a PCL Grade 2 sprain that is close to a Grade 3-level injury.
For his part, Griffin was the 2012 Offensive Rookie of the Year and a Pro Bowler. However, he suffered the knee injury in a playoff loss to the Seattle Seahawks that season and was never a Pro Bowler again for the rest of his career.
It is apparent he wants Jackson, who was the 2019 NFL MVP, to avoid a similar fate.
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