Robert Griffin III and girlfriend Grete Šadeiko made themselves quite at home vacationing in Bora Bora last week.
The Browns quarterback appeared at ease with Šadeiko at his side in a series of Instagram posts, from in the jungle, by the pool and under the sea.
“What a time to be alive!!! Enjoy life people and enjoy it with your perfect somebody,” Griffin wrote.
While Šadeiko may be Griffin’s “perfect somebody,” the same can’t be said for how the Browns feel about him.
Browns coach Hue Jackson said this week he is weighing his options before deciding who will be under center next season — and his comments shouldn’t be very reassuring to Griffin, the incumbent.
“I haven’t come to any conclusions,” Jackson said Tuesday at the Senior Bowl, via ESPN. “Everybody else can jump to those conclusions, but we’re going to keep looking at this thing.
“We’ve got to get that part of it right, and I plan on doing that.”
Griffin signed a two-year, $15 million deal with the Browns before last season. Griffin, who turns 27 next month, spent most of the time on the sideline after suffering a shoulder injury in Week 1. He was activated off injured reserve ahead of Week 14, and played in a total of five games.
When stopped by TMZ at the airport this week, an ambitious Griffin dished about his preseason plans.
“Getting ready to train, get ready to roll for next season, make sure we don’t go 1-15 again,” he said.
Should the Browns decide to part ways with the Heisman Trophy winner, they have a number of options. The Browns hold the No. 1 pick in this year’s NFL Draft, and could reach for North Carolina’s Mitch Trubisky, Notre Dame’s DeShone Kizer or even Clemson’s Deshaun Watson.
They also could consider a trade with the Patriots for Tom Brady’s promising backup, Jimmy Garoppolo.
The potential X factor, however, is the Bills’ Tyrod Taylor. Despite signing a five-year contract extension last August, Buffalo brass shut down Taylor for the regular-season finale rather than risk triggering a clause in his deal that would result in the team paying him a guaranteed $27.5 million if he were injured. The Bills front office now has until March to get out of the deal, and Taylor’s frustration with the franchise is apparent.
“They made a decision last week to sit me for the last game of the season. Did I believe that was fair? No, I didn’t,” Taylor said at the time, according to New York Upstate. “I’ve heard that they wanted to evaluate the young talent that we have in EJ and Cardale [Jones]. I’ve also heard things as far as the injury clause, which I don’t really put much behind that because that was the situation all year. Like I said, we’ll see what the real decision was.”
Jackson said he’s not backing down from the challenge of finding Cleveland’s next franchise quarterback.
“That’s what I came to Cleveland for, and I’m not going to stop ’til we get that guy,” Jackson said.
All signs point to Griffin not being that guy. At least he got the girl.