We support our Publishers and Content Creators. You can view this story on their website by CLICKING HERE.

One of the several reasons that ESPN fired Robert Griffin III before the start of the NFL season was his exploitation of the prestigious Monday Night Football brand. 

After ESPN added Griffin to the pregame show in 2023, he mocked the platform by arguing with strawmen to defend Lamar Jackson, his former teammate and whom he calls his “little brother.” 

Notably, Griffin shouted ahead of ESPN’s telecast of the Ravens-Texans playoff matchup, with around 30 million viewers, that he is “sick and tired of the media not giving Lamar Jackson his due.” A baffled Scott Van Pelt asked, “Who is disrespecting him? He won one MVP and is about to win a second.”

RGIII didn’t have an answer.

Using the ESPN platform to air personal grievances had already been an issue for Griffin. Earlier last year, he called for the 49ers to put Kyle Shanahan on the “hot seat.” Why would an analyst call for a team to consider firing a universally acclaimed head coach coming off an NFC Championship appearance with a third-string quarterback? Griffin later admitted his issues with Shanahan are “personal” and blames the coach for his failures as a quarterback in Washington.

Networks pay billions of dollars a year to broadcast NFL games. Neither the networks nor the league appreciates the clownish behavior Griffin exhibited on ESPN’s coverage of the NFL. 

Now, he is about to do the same as an employee of Netflix, which will pay $150 million to stream just two games on Christmas Day this season. As Netflix NFL analyst, Griffin is pushing the script that Lamar Jackson is the clear MVP front-runner, is disrespected (this again), and can clinch the award Wednesday against the Texans. 

“The NFL MVP Race will be decided on @netflix on Christmas Day. Lamar Jackson is the front-runner and how he plays will determine if he wins it,” Griffin posted on X.

That is simply just not true.

Lamar Jackson is not the “front-runner.” Josh Allen is a significant favorite to win the MVP with -900 odds at FanDuel.

And for good reason. Allen has been the best player in the NFL for much of the season, most notably leading his team to victories over the co-Super Bowl favorites, the Chiefs and Lions. 

The Chiefs have lost just one game over the past 12 months. It was against the Bills in November after Allen thoroughly outplayed Patrick Mahomes. The Lions scored 42 points against the Bills earlier this month, but Allen countered with 48.

Further, the last seven MVP winners played on a team that secured the first seed in either the AFC or NFC. The Bills are almost certainly going to be a top-two seed in the AFC at 12-3. Meanwhile, the Ravens are currently the fifth seed. Baltimore is a wild card team.

Griffin argued that Jackson’s statistics are greater than Allen’s this season. That may be. However, the inverse was true last season when Allen had better numbers, but Jackson won the MVP. No argument here. Jackson led his team to the No. 1 seed in the AFC, while the Bills lost six games.

Translation: the MVP award goes to the best player on one of the top four teams. This season, that player is Josh Allen. In fact, Jared Goff should be second in voting; not Jackson.

Essentially, Robert Griffin III is trying to do exactly what we predicted the sports media would do: try to shame voters into voting for Lamar Jackson over Josh Allen.

See, Allen faces the same roadblocks that Nikola Jokic did during the 2022 NBA season as a white player in a sport where the television analysts are mostly black.  The likes of Kendrick Perkins cost Jokic the award by using the same language as Griffin, with unsupported statements claiming that certain black players are “disrespected.”

There is a playbook. Griffin is using it.

Now, Griffin likely doesn’t have enough respect among his peers to cost Allen the award, at least not now in late December. But he’s going to try. He will certainly turn the Netflix broadcast on Christmas Day into a Lamar Jackson fan-fest.

Expect to hear how Jackson is the most persecuted player in the NFL and suggestions that his skin color will cost him the MVP. And expect this to be the only time you see RGIII on Netflix, as his weird infatuation with Lamar Jackson cost him another big opportunity in media.