If there was any mud to sling at Robert Griffin III on his way out, Brian Orakpo wasn't interested in slinging it.
In an interview with Sirius XM on Thursday, Orakpo, whose locker was next to Griffin's for a majority of his time in Washington, said that he just encouraged Griffin to be himself on the way out.
If nothing else, he hopes the former rookie phenom returns to form.
"I always tried to stay positive with him when he was handling all that adversity that he was going through," Orakpo said. "I think he'll be able to turn it around once he's able to stay healthy, and (he'll) prove everybody wrong. And don't be too much worried about the criticism and the bad stuff that goes around being the quarterback of a big-time franchise like the Redskins. I think it will turn around eventually for him, once he stays healthy and kind of, you know, eliminates all the negativity around him."
He added that "you can't appease everybody."
When the Redskins were looking to reshuffle their locker room, they likely targeted Orakpo as a high-priced veteran early on. He was going to be out of their price range.
But one of the things Jay Gruden needs to be considering if he truly plans to move forward with Griffin, is aligning the locker room in a way in which the QB has some veteran support.
There were likely few stronger voices among Washington's veteran core than Orakpo's, and now Griffin will have to start over in a sense.
Will he have as much luck with his next locker buddy?
The latest Around The NFL Podcast makes some bold free agency predictions and discusses Adrian Peterson's future. Find more Around The NFL content on NFL NOW.
