Four months after his dramatic firing from ESPN, former NFL star Robert Griffin III insisted it’s all water under the bridge.
Griffin, 34, was let go by the network in August after signing a multi-year contract in 2021. He was replaced by Jason Kelce as cohost of ESPN’s Monday Night Countdown at the start of the 2024 NFL season.
In an exclusive interview with Us Weekly, Griffin explained how he turned the public ordeal into a private lesson.
“There’s no bad blood for me,” said Griffin, who spoke to Us via his partnership with USAA ahead of the Army-Navy football game on Saturday, December 14. “Listen, at the end of the day, the reception after what happened from the fans showed me that I was doing it the right way, that I was telling players’ stories the right way.”
Griffin also said his former cohosts — Scott Van Pelt, Ryan Clark and Marcus Spears all stayed onboard after his departure — expressed their gratitude on his way out the door.
“My teammates and their reaction let me know that I was a good teammate to them,” Griffin boasted. “And that’s all you can go with.”
During his tenure at ESPN, Griffin was also a color commentator for the network’s college football coverage.
“You don’t get given these opportunities you know?” Griffin said. “You have to earn these opportunities. I’m thankful to ESPN for giving me the opportunity to showcase my skill set in the booth calling games, but also in studio on Monday Night Countdown. It’s something that I don’t ever take for granted.”
Looking ahead, Griffin will be part of Netflix’s inaugural NFL coverage on Christmas Day. On Monday, December 9, he was announced as a member of the streamer’s massive broadcast team — which also features names like Drew Brees, JJ Watt and Kay Adams — who will get fans ready for the Chiefs-Steelers and Ravens-Texans holiday doubleheader.
Before he takes his talents to Netflix, though, Griffin has partnered with USAA to help honor local military and veteran families ahead of Saturday’s Army-Navy game at Northwest Stadium in Landover, Maryland, home of the Washington Commanders, for whom Griffin formerly played.
Griffin helped mentor and coach nearly 100 military kids and caregivers from the Elizabeth Dole Foundation at a first-ever family football camp at Prince George Sports Complex on Wednesday, December 11.
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On Friday, December 13, Griffin will help gift two retrofitted vehicles to local deserving military families in need of reliable transportation — one Army family and one Navy family — in a ceremony where the families will be presented the cars.
For Griffin — whose parents both served in the U.S. Army as sergeants — the collaboration was a no-brainer.
“That’s a special bond that military brats and families have because they understand the sacrifice,” Griffin explained. “To be able to partner with USAA in the backdrop of Northwest Stadium where I made a ton of football memories in the D.C. area, giving back to kids means the world to me.”
Griffin added, “To make an impact in that area for these people in their lives, to me that lasts forever. It’s one thing to say, ‘I’m doing all this, I’m doing all that,’ but It’s another thing to actually go out and do it.”
