Five years ago the Redskins had it all. They had mortgaged their future for the player they thought would lead them for the next decade both on and off the field. And for that one magical 2012-2013 season, their gamble had seemingly paid off. Robert Griffin III was as electrifying as they come in his rookie season, and the Redskins fan base was thrown into an intense state of euphoria that made Robert Griffin's jersey the highest selling jersey that season. Not only was Griffin the highest selling jersey of the 2012-2013 season, his No. 10 jersey sold more units in that fiscal year than any other player had in any one year span in NFL history. The ripple effects of those jersey sales within the Redskins fan base are still felt to this day, as the four fans at UVA College Basketball Gameday proved as they wore RG3 jerseys on national television only one week ago (I cannot find a picture of this, but trust me, there were four guys all wearing RG3 jerseys at UVA Gameday last week). But, alas, those jersey sales could not translate into sustained success and Griffin left unceremoniously for Cleveland two year later. Since that 2012 season, the Redskins fan base has devolved into an apathetic mess that reached its nadir during this past season. The best quarterback the franchise has ever seen is being allowed to leave this off season, with no real marketable players left that can galvanize the fan base. That void has been filled by another who has won the hearts of the DMV fan base's wallets.
Guess who had the highest selling jersey on NFL.com in DC, Maryland, and Virginia over this past season? Not Kirk Cousins. Not Ryan Kerrigan. Not Josh Norman. Not Joe Flacco or Mike Wallace. Nope. If you attended the University of Maryland you would know that the Eagles fan base has blighted the landscape of the DMV to the point where Carson Wentz can have the highest selling jersey for all of the Mid-Atlantic states in 2017. And why not? He did all the leg work to lead the Eagles to their first Super Bowl victory while capitalizing on the zeitgeist surrounding his particular city the way RG3 did five year ago. In 2012 Griffin came to "Chocolate City" as the young black savior of a franchise in desperate need of a player that would make the Redskins relevant on a national stage. For those DC fans who were indifferent to his race and stature, they were enamored with his ability to win, which propelled Griffin to the highest levels of marketability for that 2012 season. Now look at Carson Wentz. Wentz had that white working class vibe about him from Day 1 that just connected with a majority of the Eagles fan base, and for those who were unimpressed by his whiteness and North Dakota upbringing, they were enamored with his ability to be young and win football games. It is the consistent winning that awoke the dormant Eagles fans across the Eastern Seaboard for the past two seasons, and with the Eagles' Super Bowl Victory it has put Wentz into a position to dominate the Washington DC area for the foreseeable future.
Go ahead and say it Redskins Fans, "The Eagles won the Super Bowl, and the Redskins were so mediocre under Kirk Cousins, that it was inevitable that Wentz would have the highest selling jersey in the DMV". Good theory. But then how do you explain the fact that Mitchell Trubisky had the highest selling jersey in Illinois during the same time period? The Bears went 5-11 this year, which means that winning may not have a high correlation to jersey sales within a state. To give a comparable example to the Redskins (who went 7-9 this past season), Larry Fitzgerald had the highest selling jersey in Arizona on an 8-8 Cardinals team that missed the playoffs, and Matt Stafford had the highest selling jersey in Michigan with the 9-7 Lions who also missed the playoffs. It gets even worse. According to the NFLPA Sales List for 2017, which takes into account sales for all officially licensed merchandise, there are no Redskins players in the Top 50 on that list and Carson Wentz ranks number four behind Dak, Zeke, and Brady. And again it has nothing to do with winning if you take into account the fact that the Oakland Raiders went 6-10 this year and have five players on this list, including two in the Top 10 (Derek Carr at #9 and Marshawn Lynch at #10). So what the hell is wrong with Redskins fans that they allow Eagles fans to outstrip them in merchandise sales in their own back yard? It has to do with marketability and the hangover from RG3.
The Redskins have no marketable players that move the needle as much as Robert Griffin did five years ago, and the memory of that time still lingers in the minds of all Redskins fans. The high and low of the Robert Griffin situation jaded an already depressed fan base into believing that any monetary faith in their beloved franchise will not be rewarded with any kind of sustained success, and the Redskins front office has not helped themselves in trying to ameliorate these feelings. Their subsequent handling of Kirk Cousins has turned off an ever larger portion of the fan base to the point where Redskins Fans feel they have nothing, and no one, to cheer for. They could have marketed Cousins as the next face of the franchise, but instead they marginalized him to the point where the Redskins find themselves without anyone who can galvanize the fan base. In lieu of a marquis player who can be a beacon for this franchise, the Redskins have the ghost of RG3 haunting the minds of the fan base while Carson Wentz torments the Redskins both on and off the field. Wentz's success is a reminder about what Robert Griffin could have been to this franchise. Wentz's success also insures that Redskins fans will have to see an ocean of green jerseys at Fed Ex Field next Fall; Green jerseys that were bought by Eagles fans right here in the DMV because lord knows no one is going to buy an Alex Smith jersey any time soon. That is, unless, he can win a Super Bowl and dethrone the new overlord of the DMV. Carson Wentz.
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