The Dave Pasch Podcast - Robert Griffin III

studio as well as Monday night count Out. We're gonna talk with Robert about who his Heisman pick is for this season and also former Heisman Trophy winner Kyler Murray winner, his thoughts on Kyler and how he's performing with the Arizona Cardinals. Will also discuss Robert's current career as a television broadcaster and what the future holds for RG three in this business, and whether he still has it his

hour to play football in the NFL. If a team called me tomorrow and said, Robert Kenyan tom b r starting quarterback, I'll be there. I stay prepared. I can still run, can still throw. Coach text to me the other day said hey, can you take a hit. I'm like, yeah, I can take a hit, but they can't hit what they can't get. We are presented by BETMGM, the official sports betting partner of the Arizona Cardinals, pan by Ela River Resorts in Casinos. The BETMGM Touchdown Boost Token is

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one eight hundred. Next step. Time now for our conversation with Robert Griffinth, a third on this week's edition of the Day Patch podcast. So, Robert, I've been at ESPN and doing the Cardinals for two decades, and I've done so many interviews over the years with players and coaches across four different sports college football, NFL, NBA, college basketball, and there's about probably a dozen that really stand out that, like I remember exactly where I was with whom and

how it went, and you're one of those. It was the Alamo Bowl in two thousand and eleven, after you'd won the Heisman Trophy. I'm sitting there with Chris Spielman and Quint Kesnick, who is your current sideline reporter, and first of all, you guys scored sixty seven points. It was I was scoring bowl game ever. But the interview is what stood out, Man, because you were just so impressive. I'm not surprised at all that you've gone into this business and have succeeded very early on in your career.

Oh man, I appreciate that, David. You haven't. You have no idea how many times me and quite have talked about that Alimo Bowl. Just coming full circle, right, He was interviewing me throughout the week, and then now we're working together. So it's been a lot of fun. But my favorite part about that game was when we were down by I believe it was seventeen, like late in

the third. He came back by running the football consistently, just handed it off the Terence Ganaway and I had to do what I had to do on a couple of blocks, just getting out in the open field and blocking from my guys because Washington was playing a lot of that two shelf defense that you've seen in the NFL now, or they're just trying to make you be patient, and that was one of the I think it lasted as one of the highest scoring Bowl games of all

time for a while as a really fun game. Yeah, it's crazy that you actually had remember it in that great a detail considering all the great games you played and leading up to that to win the Haizard and then obviously the next year going to the playoffs with Washington. When did you start thinking about getting into this business, because obviously you've always been an incredible speaker, very smart guy. What is this something you thought about when you were

in college? So maybe when you're done in the NFL you do TV or no, No, Dave. To be honest with you, this was never on my radar. Whether I played twenty years or five years, It wasn't something that I ever thought this was going to be an avenue for me. But I was. I say this with all

good intentions. I was bothered for three years by my current agent, Mark Leppselter out of New York, and he just saw something in me, felt like I could do this and do it at a at a really high level for a long time, and after three years, I finally gave in. I did an audition with Fox. ESPN heard about the audition, I did audition with ESPN, and the rest is history. So I just think for me,

as you know this, you gotta be yourself. Whenever you step foot on screen or in a TV booth, you gotta be yourself because that's the easiest thing to replicate. So over the last year and a half, I've been able to do that, have fun, do it in a unique way that's unique to myself. And I'm beyond blessed to work with Mark Jones and Kim Belton and Quinn Kessnick on that crew because we make it fun and then you kind of see that in the broadcast. Yeah,

let me go go back to Kim Belton. Not many people realize that, you know, we all have when we call a game, we have a producer in our ear. That producer is basically the boss of the broadcast. And you know it's rare that the producer somebody that was an elite athlete. And Kim Belton was a first round draft pick of the Phoenix Suns. He's one of the all time leading scorers in Stanford basketball history. He was my first college football producer at ESPN back in two

thousand and four. And it has it been helpful for you to have somebody in that seat that knows what it's like to be an elite athlete like yourself. Yeah, David does. And Kim has been in the business forty one years. Like he's been doing it doing it for a long time. My agent told me when I was partnered with Kim that this is the best possible scenario. He does an amazing job of helping guys transition from going on the field into the broadcast booth. He looked

at him as a teacher. And as I've gone on to work with other producers, Kim still my game producer for a college ball but as I've worked with other producers and other studio shows or other aspects, there's a there's a defining quality about Kim, And you know this, he is like the boss, but he just commands a certain level of respect that I enjoy the conversation with Kim throughout the game when we're talking and where I see something and he sees it, and we see the

game eerily similar. For a basketball guy to really see football the way that he does is extremely impressive, and I enjoy that part of it. So Kim has been incredible. I think he's the best in the business. Obviously, I haven't worked with with anybody else on an extended basis, but that crew has been really special over the last

year and a half. You'll have to ask him. I can't say who it was, but you'll have to ask him about the time he and I were working together and I had to break up a fight in the booth. So next time you see Kim, say hey, I was just I was doing a podcast with Dave and he wanted He asked me to have you tell him the story of having to break up a fight in the booth in Hawaii. No less, wait Hawaii. You know draft pick in the NBA. This is a big guy. You don't want to mess with him. Well no, well it

actually it wasn't. The fight wasn't with him. I was working with two analysts at the time and the two of them were about to throw it down, and so I had to I had to intervene. But yeah, there was a time too. Again, I can't remember the analysts. I remember the analysts name, but I can't say it. But you have to ask him about the time that he showed up in the booth because his analyst would

not do what he asked him to do. So Kim left the truck out on the press box elevator, stood outside the press box and told the guy, are you gonna do it? Now? And you have to understand it. Kim Melton at six eight, two hundred and forty pounds comes to your broadcast boot and says, are you gonna do it? You're gonna do it or you're gonna get beat down? Oh, behind the scenes of broadcast TV, because I've heard some stories back that would really put people

out there. That's crazy. I know people think like there are no egos in this business. There's probably more in this business than maybe even on the football field. Obviously, you do a lot of NFL stuff. You're doing Monday and I countdown. You're really busy right now. You enjoy the studio as much as the games. How would you kind of how would you measure your enjoyment in terms of games versus being in studio or on site. I guess it's not really studio you're on site, but it's

a studio show. Yeah, it's still a studio show. They were Monday and I countdown, and you know, I was blessed enough to do college game date three or four times last year as well. I look at this as like a learning experience for me. Anybody that gets into like a new field kind of approach it like you would if you went to law school, they say, they say, when you go to law school, don't try to pick

what you're gonna do right away. Kind of get a glimpse of everything and what's out there, and then whatever you gravitate towards that's what you can Then all right, this is what I'm going to do for the long term future. So for me, I enjoy both studio and the game games. It's extremely fun doing NFL and also

being able to do college has been really fun. And as you know, in this business day, the more you can do, the more you can do, the more versatility you can have, the more opportunities that come your way. And I've just been blessed up at ESPN has you know, put me in spots that have allowed me to showcase that and put me with the right teams to you know, really fully maximize my own ability and add to the broadcast, whatever broadcast it may be, whether it's studio or on

the game. So I enjoyed both. I'm not going to try to close any doors for myself. But of course, everybody wants to wants to call Monday Night football, everybody wants to be in a number one game booth. We're all trying to go out there and be the next John Madden and have fun calling the game and bring something new to it. So I'm no different in that. But at the end of the day, I'm here to entertain, add to the games, and be a storyteller. Well you

definitely you've done all those things. You certainly entertain. I loved reading the article a Sportilla Street it did on you calling you the next breakout start ESPN and highlighting some of your commentary. Well not just a commentary like you're going in the tunnel at Michigan UM, but also some of the comments that you'll make, like I laughed out loud at the Black Friday comment man at the top of the show last week, because we are on right after you guys, and I saw I saw it.

I don't know if that was okay or not, man, but I was die laughing. It's uh, you know some of that stuff, like the Black Friday comment. You know, I had said something before we went on air to Kim and he said, yeah, you're not saying that. So like the crew that I'm with and the guys that I work with, we have such a great relationship that we know what to say, what not to say. We know how to approach the line but not cross the line.

For instance, with Alex Orgy, the quarterback from Michigan early in the year, like I wouldn't ever say there's an orgy in the end zone if the guy's last name was an Orgy, right, there's like a there's a certain protective barrier there. It's really thin. And in the middle of the year I kind of learned like, all right,

let's make sure that's not the main thing. And over the last part of the year, I haven't had any of those types of things pop up because I wanted to make sure people understood like, we're here to entertain, but we're here to entertain for everybody, and that's why we have fun. The Black Friday comment, Listen, it's black Black Friday. You got a black play by play guy and Mark Jones, you got a black analyst. It was funny. It was funny, it was light. Nobody was really offended

by it. People laughed, like you said, you laughed out loud. And we're here to provide entertainment. No, I'm not a comedian. And that's why when we break the game down and we teach, we draw you in with all those different aspects. And that's why, you know, I feel like we want to add to the broadcast. And don't be afraid to be yourself. If you're a corny dad joke type of guy, tell a couple of dad jokes, man, there's nothing wrong

with that. Well, you certainly break it down too. And I want to talk a little bit about I want to talk about the Heisman race, but I also want to talk about the quarterback for the Cardinals, because there's a tight fraternity amongst the Heisman winners and you obviously being won and Kyler six or seven years after you won it, won his Heisman Trophy in the year four

with the Cardinals. When you watch Kyler and you watch the Cardinals, I know you're doing the best you can with all the stuff you have going on to pay as close attention as you can. Well, what stands out to you about Kyler as an NFL quarterback? Yeah, I mean I think this year, more than anything did, Kyler seems to be on a different sheet of music than the rest of the offense. Now, in their last game,

I thought it was cleaned up a little bit. You know, maybe the players and the coaches got to see Cole McCoy go out there and struggle a little bit, and maybe that kind of eased some of the tensions in the building with Kyla coming back. But I said this on Monday, and I count in and I truly believe this. Kyler is a very smart player. When we were in Mexico and he didn't play, I got to talk to

him for about ten minutes on the field. He understands like the perception that's out there about him, wants to clean that up. And I know he didn't help himself with the comment he made in the post game saying that schematically they were screwed because it just brings more turbulence to their room, whether it's the coaches or the players or whatever. But he really needs to be the one install in the offense. This is a situation in Arizona eerily similar to Denver, where Russell Wilson's going to

be the quarterback. You have to find a way to get the most out of him because you guaranteed him so much money. No one's gonna trade for Russell Wilson at this point. Kyler Murray, on the other hand, it's not that no one will trade for him. It's just that this was a hand picked ideal situation for him with the coach that recruited him out of college, I mean, out of high school to go to Texas A and

M and clip Thingsbury. So if Kyler's seeing things differently than the rest of the offense, make him do the installs, because then the receivers will know, all right, versus dis coverage, this is what Kyler's thinking as opposed to versus dis coverage. This is what Cliff Kingsbury is thinking. This is what my receiver coach is thinking, this is what the running back coach is thinking. And if they do that, I

think they can get it back on track. Now this year might be lost for them, but in the future moving forward, that's how I think they should do it. Because you've already paid Kyler so much money. He is your guy. There is no well, it's his fault. It's got to be everybody in this thing. And Kyler can really help himself by just communicating with his teammates a

little bit better to let them know what he's expecting. Robert, I do think it was good for him to be in a position where for a couple of weeks he could just watch Colt run the offense. He was more decisive this pass game, no question, it was getting out of his hand Quicker. I think it was much easier too for Cliff and the stat to sell Kyler on that by saying, hey, you saw it the last two games, Colts getting rid of it quickly putting guys in position

to succeed getting into his playmakers. You mentioned you had a chance to talk to him for ten minutes in Mexico. Did you offer any advice to him. Yeah, you know, we kind of joked a little bit because I make some short jokes about Kyler on Twitter every now and then, and you know, we're a Heisman brother, so it's like it's all funny games. But at the end of the day, for him, the conversation then went to not trying to

do too much. There's a lot of things like, Kyler's been a winner his entire life, right whether high school. I believe he went undefeated. You know, he listed that at his press conference when they had the whole homework clause press conference earlier in the year. But he's been a winner his whole life. And you get this large amount of money. With that money comes to expectations, and

sometimes you can try to do too much. So yes, does it help to kind of sit out while you're a little banged up and watch the backup going there and just operate the office. Yes, But here is what I took from that was, Colt McCoy is Colt McCoy. If he goes out there, gets the ball out of his hands and works the offense, he can only take

you so far. But if Kyler Murray does the same thing and gives you a couple of those, just wow, Kyler Murray plays every now and then they're gonna be a lot better football team with Kyler Murray at the helm. And that's kind of all we talked about. Just you know, don't let the outside perception affect what you do on the inside. Don't try to convince everyone in the building that you're not this guy that they're telling you that

you are on the outside. Go about your business, be a good teammate, work hard, run the offense, and get the ball to your playmakers. And like I said, I think he did a better job of that against the Chargers. Even though they didn't get the victory, they looked much better than they have all year. You know, it's amazing the run that Oklahoma had a quarterbacks that either won the Heisman or and Jalan Hurts he's being the runner up. Oklahoma quarterback's not gonna win the Heisman this year. But

Caleb Williams was in Oklahoma. And I don't know if you agree with me. I don't have a vote, but if I did, it'd be Caleb Williams from USC. Obviously you're a Heisman winner, you have a vote. What do you think? Yeah, I'll tell you this, Dave. I don't vote until after the championship games because I know, like with the committee, the playoff committee, sometimes they don't weigh the championship games as much. But going into Championship weekend,

it's between Caleb Williams and Max Dugan. That's it. Unless Blake Korn runs for four hundred yards and if he's gonna play, you know, with Michigan, it's between those two guys. And you have the story of Caleb Williams, which I absolutely love and my main man, Rehees Davis kind of he got on me a little bit earlier in the in the in the off season because I was saying, USC, man, they're going to coasketball playoff and He's like, nah, I'll pump the brakes on USC. They're not gonna do it.

And look at what these transfers did. I mean, they had like thirty seven thirty eight transfers come in there, and Caleb Williams was able to steer the ship. And late in the year you started to see him make those Caleb william plays that we got so accustomed to see in last year at Oklahoma. So for him, if they win, I think he wins the Heisman he and for them to win, he has to play well. The only guy that could kind of knock him off would be Duggan, and Duggan's gonna have to go out there

and throw for three fifty, run for a hundred. I think everybody knows that at this point. But Caleb Williams he can write, you know, Heisman winner on his fingers if he wants to on his fingernails. You know, he paints his figuernails every game with some stuff on there. He's got the he doesn't have a lock on it, but it's ninety five percent it's gonna be him winning

the Heisman. It's amazing too to think about. You know, this time last year, he was a relatively new starter at Oklahoma, came in against Texas, lights it up after Spencer Rattler gets benched. Follows Lincoln Riley to USC, I wish with you. I picked you know, I work with Dushtavorchek and Tom Luganville's our field analysts. I was the only one of the three to pick that seat to go to the college football playoffs. So there's a big part of me that's rooting for the Trojans to sweek

against Utah, No doubt not. People don't like some coaches are gonna hate that though, you know that, Dave just talking to coaches throughout the college football season. Some have

bought into the transfer portals, some haven't. What Lincoln Riley has done at USC, even if they don't make the playoff is going to be transformational for all of college football because now you know, if you get the right guy at head coach and quarterback, you can bring in a whole bunch of mercenaries and get them to play well together. And I mean, what are they? I think are they ten and one right now? That's impressive because everything about college football has been build the culture, Build

the culture, build the culture. Well, now it seems like the culture can be built quickly as long as you have the right guy at quarterback, and USC definitely has that. Robert at the time that you went to the playoffs with Washington in your first year and set the world on fire in the NFL, Matt Ryan had made the playoffs as a rookie a few years prior to that, because I remember they played the Cardinals in the opening

round of the playoffs. But it was very rare at that time for a rookie to have the success that you did and Matt Ryan did. As you look at the college guys, whether it's Caleb Williams or Bryce Young in Alabama or maybe Drake May at North Carolina, do you see the next great NFL quarterback in college or somebody that you think they kind of have success early on an impact the franchise of the way you did in Washington that first year. Cool Man, Yeah, I really

do I see that. I think Caleb Williams, Bryce Young, c J. Stroud, I think all those guys have what it takes to be successful immediately. You know, people love will Levis. Hennon Hooker is about sixty five years old, but he's probably gonna be out all up next year because of that knee injury. But he's also a guy that they exude these skills that are successful right now in the league the way it is Kyler Murray, Jalen Hursts, Lamar Jackson, Josh Allen, Patrick Mahomes. All these guys can

run the ball and throw the football. So day my take on can these guys have success earlier is yeah, they definitely can. But what if they don't, What if they struggle? As an organization, you have to have the organizational fortitude to let these guys struggle. Peyton Manning struggled as a rookie. You gotta let them go through some hard time so they can figure out who they are, what they can do at this level of play without the threat of we're gonna sit them down because we

need to win. Right now, you think they're not trying to win, they are. They're trying to win. But even if they struggle a little bit, let them go through that. Like the situation with the Jets and Zach Wilson, it's just a bad situation for Zach Wilson. Now everybody's gravitating

towards Mike White. They sit him down. Yes, he made a mistake, had a terrible accountability press conference there, But at the end of the day, as the Jets now go back to Zach Wilson and barring an injury and him actually being able to win, back over the team. So I think it's own organizations to let these young quarterbacks be young quarterbacks. Don't expect them to come in and turn you from I believe Washington was four and twelve the year before and then we went ten and six.

That's just not Nobody really does that. And I was blessed enough to have great teammates and be able to pull that off as a rookie. But then you saw the next year when I came back from my injury, just how short changed we were as a roster. It was almost identical roster as the year we went ten and six. I just wasn't able to be Superman in twenty thirteen because of my knee injury and the recovery

from it. I wasn't quite there yet. These teams have to understand that with these young guys, let them be young, let them learn from their mistakes, and then they'll sink or swim. But that's not going to be found out for three four years down the line. You talked about that injury that you suffered, which was in the postseason. You had multiple injuries, which you know, if they didn't happen, you're probably still playing. I know you can still run because I saw you out run the Eagle in an

Auburn game. Are you still could you play? Do you still want to play or you're done? Yeah, Dave, I've gotten this question a bunch, and it's like almost every time they asked me, it's like starts a new news cycle about do I want to play or not? Sorry? Man, Sorry, I'm really enjoying what I'm doing right now with the ESPN. Really blessed to work with the people that I have been able to work with, talk with guys like you

who are legends in this game. If a team called me tomorrow and said, Robert, can you come be our starting quarterback? I'll be there. I stay prepared. I can still run, can still throw. Coach text me the other day said, hey, can you take a hit? Like, yeah, I can take a hit. But they can't hit where they can't catch. So I'm a young thirty I haven't played a ton of football over the last five six years, but I still have a desire to be around the game, a desire to play the game. So if I got

the call, yes am I chasing that call? I'm not, man, I'm really enjoying what I'm doing, having found my family, being able to show people more sides of myself that you can't show when you're the franchise quarterback or a quarterback on a team like I was in Baltimore, where you're the backup. You've got to be team, team, team, And now with the TV stuff, your personality gets to shine through. So I'm excited about that. I'm excited about the future with TV. And as you know, Dave, every

player wants to have a Hall of Fame career. I know I haven't had that. I haven't had an opportunity to go out there and make that happen, whether it be injuries or situations or play. But as a broadcaster, that's the goal. Get in the Hall of Fame as a broadcaster, be a great storyteller, tell these guys stories the right way. I'm enjoying that. But yes, who's your favorite team, Davis? The Cardinals? Well it better I've done their games for twenty one years, so it better be

the Cardinals. Sorrow and said, hey, Kyler Pulahammy, we need you. I'd be there, But at the end of the day, I'm enjoying what I'm doing. Last question, and that's another one that I'm sure you've been asked a lot since you were pretty vocal on social media about being interested in being a part of ownership with the Washington Commanders. Is that's something that you're still interested in and looking into. Yes, I just shifted that interest from social media to the

private conversations that they have to be in. So when I put that tweet out at first, I did not expect the response that it got. You know, wanting to be a part of minority ownership and also bringing ten fans along for the ride and they don't have to pay for anything. Well, The amount of cause I got in the next four hours after that tweet went out was unbelievable. There's just a lot of interest in people

wanting to own football teams. They wanted to be minority owners and a team like the Washington Commanders, So that is happening. Those conversations are still going on. I did put out there that I had four hundred million already committed. That is not a lie. That is true. It's grown since then. But at the end of the day, you got to find the right people to partner with, and

that's the process I'm going through right now. On that side of it, it would be really cool to have a full circle moment being a player for the Commanders to now come back and be a minority owner and try to help the team and the city get the winner that it deserves. That would be really awesome. But at the end of the day, Dan Sneibers got to decide if he's gonna sell a team or not. I don't have any control over that. Well, listen, man, it's been eleven years since we last talk, but I'm grateful

for you doing this. You do such a great job on both college football, the games and the studio stuff on Monday Night NFL. I just love the fact that you're yourself, You're entertaining, your fun and it keeps me watching. So keep it up. Appreciate you, Dave, and you never know, man, you never know what could happen. We could do some more of these to be working together in the future.

I'm really honored to be on here with you. Man. Well, if you haven't had an opportunity to listen slash watch Robert on college football games on Saturday during the week with studio for NFL and ESPN, or on Monday Night Countdown, you certainly can see why he's a rising star in this business. Very engaging, great personality and obviously very dialed

in on both college football and the NFL. He mentioned he had a chance to talk one on one with Kyler Murray, sharing some of those comments that he had for Kyler, and also gave his thoughts on how Kay one is playing here in twenty twenty two. Also thought it was really interesting his thoughts on being a potential owner in the NFL and that he wants to be a Hall of Fame broadcaster when he's done with his career.

We are presented by BETMGM, the official sports betting partner of the Arizona Cardinals and by Hila River Resorts and Casinos. Tell us what you think by rating us, going to your podcast platform let us know if there's any guests that you'd like to hear from down the road. You can also follow us on Twitter at pashpod. Thanks again to you for listening, and thanks to Robert Griffin the Third for being this week's guest on the Date Pash Podcast