Robert Griffin III Signs With Browns; What Are the Implications for Ryan Fitzpatrick and the Jets?

Free agent quarterback Robert Griffin III has signed with the Cleveland Browns. He visited with the Jets earlier in the month.

IT'S OFFICIAL.

Welcome to the #DawgPound, Robert Griffin III!

: https://t.co/7d1kexnVpU pic.twitter.com/fvaliFSE8u

— Cleveland Browns (@Browns) March 24, 2016

RG3 deal with the Browns: two years, $15 million. Signing bonus of $3.5 million with $6.75 million in total guarantees.

— Mike Garafolo (@MikeGarafolo) March 24, 2016

Griffin was always a fallback option for the Jets. The real question is how this impacts the team's pursuit of Ryan Fitzpatrick.

All I can make is an educated guess. That guess is Griffin's signing with the Browns makes it more likely Fitzpatrick returns to the Jets. The signing of Griffin presumably takes Cleveland out of the Colin Kaepernick trade talks. I have viewed the most likely scenario for Fitzpatrick leaving involving the Browns trading for Kaepernick. This would leave the Broncos, the other team with reported serious interest in Kaepernick, to move on to Fitzpatrick. They could offer a better situation than the Jets have.

With Griffin in Cleveland, the Broncos are the only serious suitors for Kaepernick's services at this time. It is certainly possible another team could jump in. It is also possible the 49ers could keep him. The odds of the Broncos getting Kaepernick probably went up, though. If they do so, no other obvious suitor for Fitzpatrick comes to mind, making a Jets return probable.