Aside from getting defeated by the Philadelphia Eagles over the weekend, the Cleveland Browns also suffered another major loss in the form of Robert Griffin III's injury. Although they still have Josh McCown as backup, the Browns could considered getting a more experienced quarterback by trading with the New York Jets for Ryan Fitzpatrick.
Griffin's injury happened during the Browns' season opener against the Eagles. As confirmed by the team, the starting QB suffered an injury to his non-throwing shoulder. According to head coach Hue Jackson, the hit that caused the injury, which was dealt by the Eagles' Jalen Mills, was not intentional.
"Let me make it known Robert didn't get hurt trying to run into a linebacker as what happened," he said. "I think it was close to the end of the game when he broke out when I think it happened. I think he broke out and he was trying to scramble and get out of bounds and I think Gary (Barnidge) was blocking and defending, and the defender was really out of bounds and he was trying to get there and at the last second they pushed him back."
Although he won't require surgery, it would take a month before he gets re-evaluated. After that, it is still not clear if Griffin will be able to play.
Aside from the incident happening during Week 1 of the 2016 NFL season, the injury also dealt a huge blow to the Browns since they just signed Griffin earlier in March with a two-year contract worth $15 million.
If Griffin gets ruled out of the season, then the Browns could bring in a veteran quarterback to serve as his replacement. One of these could be Fitzpatrick of the Jets. In exchange, the Browns could offer a couple of future draft picks to New York.
The possibility of the Jets trading away Fitzpatrick could happen since during the Jets' first game against the Cincinnati Bengals, the quarterback appeared very rusty. He failed to perfectly coordinate with his wide receivers which led him to compete only 19 out of 35 passes for 189 yards.
By dealing away Fitzpatrick, the Jets could promote Geno Smith as their starting quarterback, who would do well at this position due to his ability to quickly read defensive formations.
