The shirt that Robert Griffin III wore to Washington Redskins practice on Monday during his pregame warm-up is now worth $10,000, apparently.
RGIII made a tongue-in-cheek reference to the fact that he and head coach Mike Shanahan haven't seen eye-to-eye on the second-year quarterback's timetable for return from offseason ACL surgery. Griffin has somewhat been at odds with Shanahan because the team wants to be careful with the 23-year-old and take a patient approach to his return to football activities, while he would like to speed up his recovery.
Griffin wore a shirt that said, "Operation Patience," as a joke to playfully mock the situation the quarterback is currently enduring. The humor, evidently, was lost on the NFL as the league fined Griffin $10,000 for the act. The shirt had an Adidas logo on the back, while the NFL permits Nike gear only.
A picture of Griffin sporting the shirt can be viewed here.
Griffin was recently the center of controversy for openly voicing his frustration of the team's careful patience with him to the media, and responded yesterday by saying he has no plans of changing who he is and "acting like Bill Belichick," by being closed off with the media.
"It sucks. That's why I had to come out and make that statement," Griffin told reporters earlier this week following controversy over himself and head coach Mike Shanahan having conflicting opinions over the timetable of his knee injury, according to ESPN.
Added Griffin: "But I sat down and talked to a few people to make a decision. Do I stop being who I am and stop being honest with you guys and give you guys ammunition to turn against this team? Or do I just go into a shell and [New England Patriots head coach] Bill Belichick it all week? But I'm just gonna continue to be who I am."
The latest turn in the saga between Griffin and the Redskins came with in the form of clothing. The NFL doesn't allow any player to wear anything that's not supplied from an official apparel supplier, and doles out hefty fines for violations all the time.
Griffin got in trouble last year and was also fined $10,000 for wearing an Adidas shirt during a postgame press conference. He also got in trouble for making modifications to his Nike gear last season.
Griffin is aiming to return for the Redskins season opener against the division rival Philadelphia Eagles Sept. 9 at home but needs medical clearance first. Griffin got injured in a Week 14 game against the Baltimore Ravens and returned for the team's final regular season game before re-injuring his knee in Washington's wildcard loss to the Seattle Seahawks.
Griffin finished his first season going 258-for-393 for 3,200 yards with 20 touchdowns and five interceptions and also rushed for 815 yards on 120 attempts for seven touchdowns.
Griffin's annual salary is roughly $1.35 million, $10,000 of which will go to the NFL for his fine.
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