Eagles fans, Ochocinco get heavy dose of Samuel on Twitter
Eagles' Michael Vick: I lied to my mother about dogfighting

RG III gets fully guaranteed deal, marketing flexibility

By Jim Corbett, USA TODAY
Updated

Robert Griffin II was boarding a flight to Washington late this morning from his Texas home, proud of his son, Robert Griffin III, for reaching a four-year, $21.119-million agreement with the Redskins and living up to his word about getting into training camp ahead of the veterans who report July 26.

"Robert didn't want to holding out," Griffin said of his son. "He wasn't interested in playing a lot of those games. He was serious about getting into camp and he did not want to not be there when the veterans showed up.

"He has enough money to last him a lifetime based on what I've seen; he's in great shape."

According to the quarterback's agent, Ben Dogra of CAA, the four-year deal is fully guaranteed with a fifth-year club option.

The former Baylor star received a $13.07 million signing bonus.

"The whole contract is guaranteed for skill, injury and (salary) cap," Dogra told USA TODAY Sports.

"It was really important for Robert to be in camp early. ... With the expectations in Washington and the type of fans they have, there's going to be a lot of pressure. Robert felt strongly if he wasn't going to miss any time that would give him the best chance to succeed and win some football games."

Contrary to popular belief, the sticking point in negotiations wasn't offset language but the marketing issue and the ability for Griffin and his representatives not to be bound by the Redskins right of first refusal to say no to more competitive endorsement deals.

ADIDAS AD:  RGIII playing head games in new commercial?

"To my surprise everyone's talking about the offset language. That wasn't the sole issue or the final issue to close the deal. The offset was resolved. It was about multiple issues. Our bigger issue was the marketing issue," Dogra said.

"The marketing and the payouts from the standpoint is he's hopefully going to be the face of the franchise and a quarterback who has great success. Being in Washington, which is a terrific market and with the Redskins being a great brand, it was important to have language to protect the Redskins and their sponsorships, but equally Robert, too."

Griffin's father said his son is not only raring to go, but knows how to handle his new wealth.

"He's taken care of his body. I think he'll adjust his priorities to how expensive it is up there (in the D.C. market). ... That shocked him a little bit. It was a reality check," he said. "He's very frugal."

So no going out and buying a flashy new car or new house to celebrate his signing?

"No way. We talked about it," added RGII. "You look at all these past great superstars, all these guys -- Dr. J, Jim McMahon, Mark Brunell -- find themselves in turbulent financial crisis.

"So he saw what was going on around him. We thank God the people that we have in place give him good structure."

PREVIOUS
Eagles fans, Ochocinco get heavy dose of Samuel on Twitter
NEXT
Eagles' Michael Vick: I lied to my mother about dogfighting
To report corrections and clarifications, contact Standards Editor Brent Jones. For publication consideration in the newspaper, send comments to letters@usatoday.com. Include name, phone number, city and state for verification. To view our corrections, go to corrections.usatoday.com.
USA TODAY is now using Facebook Comments on our stories and blog posts to provide an enhanced user experience. To post a comment, log into Facebook and then "Add" your comment. To report spam or abuse, click the "X" in the upper right corner of the comment box. To find out more, read the FAQ and Conversation Guidelines