Jay Gruden Says RG3 Struggles Because "He's Been Coddled For So Long"

Robert Griffin III was on top of the football two years ago - he had led the Washington Redskins to the playoffs in this rookie season just a year after winning the Heisman trophy.

Now, his coach is questioning if he's actually a good quarterback.

Jay Gruden was critical of Griffin earlier this week, saying he "needs to worry about himself" when talking about the Redskins' struggles. He clarified those comments on Friday.

"His biggest thing, he's been coddled for so long," Gruden said. "It's not a negative, he's just been so good, he just hasn't had a lot of negative publicity. Everybody's loved him. Some adversity is striking hard at him now, and how he reacts to that off the field, his mental state of mind, how it affects his confidence, hopefully it's not in a negative way."

The Redskins don't have a lot of time to decide if they want to keep Griffin around. Hiss option for 2016 comes up in May, and Washington must decide if he's worth $16 million a season at that point.

"He's auditioned long enough. Clock's ticking. He's gotta play," Gruden said. "We want Robert to excel, we really do. But the last two games, it hasn't been very good, anywhere. We gotta play better around him. And the biggest thing for us as play-callers, and for him, we just have to come together and jell with plays he's comfortable with. That takes time. But we don't have a lot of time."