RGIII's Personal Grievances Compromise ESPN's Monday Night Football Coverage

ESPN added Robert Griffin III to the main studio desk for "Monday Night Football" this season. The pregame show leads into the most valuable property in Disney's sports portfolio, one for which the network pays over $2.7 billion annually.

Pregame analysts are to be objective and informative. Networks used to elevate only the most successful, eloquent, and professional voices to said roles -- from Steve Young to Terry Bradshaw, from Jimmy Johnson to Michael Strahan.

RGIII is none of that. He was a career-long backup QB. He stumbles over his words. He's painfully unprofessional.

Since his promotion to MNF, Griffin has used the reputable platform, with an audience of 10s of millions to settle his personal grievances.

Last month, Griffin argued that Kyle Shanahan's job should be in jeopardy. It was strange to see an analyst suggest a team widely considered the Super Bowl favorites should put a consensus top-five coach on the hot seat.

Days later, Griffin revealed the reason behind his commentary: personal reasons.

In a video that ESPN titled "RGIII on why he has an issue with Kyle Shanahan," Griffin blamed Shanahan for his failures in the NFL. He claimed Shanahan prefers "simple-minded, predictable" QBs like Matt Ryan, Kirk Cousins, Brock Purdy and Jimmy G over himself, Trey Lance and Colin Kaepernick.

Well, of course, Shanahan prefers the former group. They are better at playing football.

We asked ESPN for comment on a Monday Night Football analyst calling for the 49ers to put Shanahan on the hot seat out of spite. However, the network declined to respond.

As did Griffin on Tuesday after his comments Monday.

Last week, Griffin explained to Dan Patrick that he "mentors'' Lamar Jackson. That's fine. They are former teammates. But Griffin has to distance himself from his mentor role when he's commentating on Monday Night Football.

For example, Steve Young, whom Griffin replaced on the desk, mentored a list of QBs but covered those players honestly on-air.

Draymond Green is signed to Colin Cowherd's podcast network. Yet Cowherd still criticizes Green on "The Herd."

Former UFC fighter Daniel Cormier has a long-standing feud with Jon Jones. It's personal. Still, Cormier frequently refers to Jones as the best fighter in the world during UFC broadcasts.

Professional sportscasters can maintain relationships with subjects while still analyzing their performances objectively. Griffin hasn't shown he can. And he made a fool of himself this week.

Monday, RGIII showed up in a pink suit and became incensed over the panel pointing out that Jackson struggled in a loss to the Steelers on Sunday.

“ is out here fighting for his fudging life, man" shouted an emotional Griffin.

"The real question we need to ask is, is he getting enough out of the guys around him? I don't know what more the guy can do.”

What more can Lamar do? Perhaps not throw game-losing interceptions.

For some reason, Griffin failed to note that the "guys around Lamar" delivered Jackson the ball at the Steelers' seven-yard line with a 10-8 lead in the 4th quarter and that is resulted as follows:

(Imagine the media reaction if Josh Allen made that same mistake in that moment.)

Thanks to the Ravens' defense, Jackson had a chance to lead his team to a comeback on the following possession.

Instead, he turned the ball over on the second play of the drive. This time with a fumble:

Lamar Jackson recorded a red zone interception and a fumble in the last five minutes of the game. He threw for just 236 yards. He scored not once.

His receivers did drop the ball several times. Yet none of that would have mattered if Jackson had scored a touchdown inside the seven-yard line.

Jackson didn't play well. Even Domonique Foxworth, a Lamar Jackson apologist, admitted the QB struggled with accuracy and consistency against the Steelers.

For Griffin to say Jackson did "all he could do" and his teammates (allowing only 10 points a game the past week) are failing him is dishonest.

And how exactly is Jackson "fighting for his fudging life"? Because he's trying to win football games, like every other QB?

Such a statement underscores that RGIII is not an honest broker. He's compromised.

RGIII argued last year that the Ravens weren't paying Jackson enough. In the offseason, Baltimore made Jackson the highest paid player in NFL history at the time.

He complained the Ravens didn't provide Jackson with enough quality receivers. In the offseason, Baltimore signed Odell Beckham Jr. and spent a first round pick on receiver Zay Flowers.

RGIII called for the Ravens to hire a new offensive coordinator to assist Jackson. They did. Todd Monken now calls the offense.

If only other QBs were granted the same endless stream of excuses.

Robert Griffin III is a mouthpiece for Lamar Jackson. And ESPN allows Griffin to use its flagship NFL studio program to propagate his message.

Such partiality used to be against the standards of an NFL broadcast partner. Not anymore.