Robert Griffin III Analyzes the NFL Paths For Fernando Mendoza, Diego Pavia, Julian Sayin, And More

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Robert Griffin III Analyzes the NFL Paths For Fernando Mendoza, Diego Pavia, Julian Sayin, And More

Doug Farrar · Athlon Sports

Thu, Dec 11, 2025 ·

13 min read

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The Army-Navy game, one of the most iconic rivalries in sports, will kick off its 126th iteration on Saturday in Baltimore Highlands, Maryland. 2011 Heisman Trophy winner and 2012 NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year Robert Griffin III , now with FOX Sports and his own podcast, is already there for the festivities, and he's making it count.

Griffin has a long partnership with USAA and its Salute to Service initiative, and he was in Baltimore on Wednesday to show honor through action and celebrate the tradition of the game by gifting two vehicles to deserving, local military members from both branches of service.

(From left to right) Dale Moss of NABC Recycled Rides®, NFL legend Robert Griffin III (RGIII), Petty Officer First Class Jamil Lewis, USAA Senior Vice President Bill White and @EllieGoldenLife pose at USAAs Army-Navy Game NABC Recycled Rides® Car Gifting in Baltimore, MD, on Wednesday, December 10, 2025. The event was held to showcase USAAs commitment to serving the military community and the spirit of Americas Game. (Photo by Edwin Remsberg /AP Images for USAA)

RGIII, who grew up in a military family as the son of two veterans, returned to Baltimore to unveil the cars and hand off the keys in a ceremony at the plaza in front of the iconic USS Constellation. The recipients of the vehicles had been nominated by nonprofit organizations to receive a National Auto Body Council Recycled Ride® — a vehicle that is repaired and donated to those in need to provide reliable transportation.

CTR 1 Jamil Lewis has served in the US Navy since 2011, with multiple deployments overseas. He is a single father of five children, and resides in Fort Meade while currently serving.

SPC Patrick Huber served six years with deployments to Afghanistan and Iraq, and he was honorably discharged in 2009. He is now taking classes at a local community college to start a new career in radiology.

After the ceremony, Griffin spoke with Athlon Sports' Doug Farrar about the event, and they then got into all the prominent college quarterbacks, both in the 2026 draft class and beyond, and what their NFL paths will eventually look like.

Doug Farrar:We have some very serious quarterback juice in the interview room today, because we're talking with Robert Griffin III of FOX Sports and the Outta Pocket with RGIII podcast . Robert, you have that pod with your wife Grete, and it's a must-listen. She is particularly great — funny, on-point, knows ball. It's a really cool pod, and I encourage everyone to check that out.

You are in Baltimore partnering with USAA and the Recycled Rides program as part of the Army-Navy game festivities. And you gifted two vehicles to deserving local military members from both branches of service. Tell us about the event, and how this must mean a lot to you in particular, because you're the son of two military parents.

Robert Griffin III discusses USAA's Recycled Rides program (2:07)

Robert Griffin III:Yeah, you hit it right on the head there. My parents served in the Army 31 years combined between my mom and my dad. It's something that's really near and dear to my heart. Understanding the sacrifices that military families make, so for us to be able to give back to them in such a big way, It's something I truly take pride in. 13 years I have been partnered with USAA. I think that's my longest-standing partnership, and it's because of the work that they do in the community with the military. That's why I'm proud to be a part of it. They've been doing this for over a hundred years, and this game between Army and Navy, this is the 126th edition of it.

So, [it 's important] for us to be able to bring these military families together, and let them know they're not forgotten about, to let them know that we appreciate the sacrifices they make so that we can live the life that we live. We appreciate them putting our families before their own, and putting themselves in harm's way. What it calls for is truly special, and we don't say that we gave them free cars, because they paid their dues.

DF:That's awesome. Well, I want to get into as many college quarterbacks as we can discuss, because you talk about them a lot and very well, and I wanted to get specifically into their NFL transitions. You won the 2011 Heisman Trophy, and then you were the 2012 NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year. So, you know a little bit about the NCAA-to-NFL transition. It worked fairly well for you.

We have four Heisman finalists now, and three are quarterbacks — no surprise there. Indiana 's Fernando Mendoza , Vanderbilt 's Diego Pavia , and Ohio State 's Julian Sayin . Let's start with Mendoza, and what you see from him in his path to the NFL. The one thing that comes up for me with him, and it's an intangible, but he seems to have what I call the Eli Manning thing, where when the games mean the most, he just steps up when he needs to. I don't know how you factor that in because it's an intangible, but he seems to have it over and over.

Robert Griffin III evaluates Fernando Mendoza 's path to the NFL (2:26)

RGIII:Yeah, Fernando Mendoza. I nicknamed him "The Supercomputer." You can see that he's always processing everything all the time. His speech after the Big Ten Championship Game let you know how much it means to him. But I like how calculated he can be in the way that he communicates, and the way he plays. He's a big kid, and he's got a big arm. He's tough. Those things all translate to the NFL.

DF: Yeah, when you hear him talking about the plays , and his second and third read, and how he saw this and that when they flip the coverage, it's like, okay. Yeah, Supercomputer makes sense.

RGIII:So, I like Fernando Mendoza. The player, the person. I think he's over-analytical. But when you see him after the game and to be quite honest, just like how goofy and dorky he can be, I think that's the balance. I don't think he overthinks things, I think he's just processing, and that's part of his process.

DF:Do you see anything he needs to work on in his NFL transition?

RGIII:Yeah, they all... everybody's always trying to improve at all times. I think he's got good feet. I think he's got a good feel for the game, I would like to see him go for the knockout punch earlier in game, and not necessarily take three quarters to process what the defense is doing to him, but that's being really nitpicky. The young man, I think he is a phenomenal talent, and he will be a top ten pick.

DF:It's like that Rocky Balboa thing. Why do you have to get hit so much before you turn it on? Can you come out like you did against Clubber Lang in the second fight in Rocky III and just go for it?

So, Diego Pavia, and how transferrable to the NFL you think his game is. He's made a ton of great plays, but I wanted to ask you about this: I'm always concerned for quarterbacks when the college offenses are as spread out as his is, using the college hashmarks to their advantage. I know quarterbacks will say, you come into the NFL and it's like there are 15 guys in the middle of the field all of a sudden, because everything is compressed and it becomes a different thing, as you well know.

Is Diego Pavia the next Baker Mayfield ? (1:44)

RGIII:Yeah, you're talking to a guy who came from one of those spread offenses. So what I would say is this — if you bring in a guy like myself, Diego Pavia, Joe Burrow was in that spread offense [at LSU href="https://athlonsports.com/college/lsu-tigers"], you need to bring in elements of that offense. The days of trying to fit a square peg in a round hole are over. You're seeing many more college-style offenses make their way into the pros, because NFL coaches now realize that it's not the hashmarks that are containing us; It's this right here [points to his head]. There is a certain way you have to play. You've got to be good on third down. You've got to be great in the red zone. You've got to control the game. You've got to protect the ball. You've got to be aggressive. But now NFL teams are utilizing more space.

So, when it comes to Pavia... Baker Mayfield has turned himself back into Baker Mayfield from Oklahoma . Not with how he plays. He's always played that way. It's his mindset. He's chippier now. He's got that edge back. I think Pavia has to go to the NFL and be himself. And I do think that he could be a franchise quarterback.

Ohio State's Julian Sayin is already an elite processor (0:38)

I know Julian Sayin can't go pro yet. But I love his demeanor. He is a guy that will execute the offense at the highest level as he continues to grow. He'll become more and more of a playmaker.

DF:Yeah, what my notes were on Sayin: "He's got this Murderer's Row of receivers, but he still has to execute the offense." I mean, he's done that very well.

RGIII:And that's what they should do for you in the NFL. They should give you a Jeremiah Smith and a Carnell Tate ! Don't punish the young guy because he's got great players to throw to; he's still making the throws.

DF:Couple of college quarterbacks I've heard you talk about on the pod — first, Georgia's Gunner Stockton . You've talked about him a lot. He seems like... when people say "Game manager," it's always thought of as a pejorative, but I don't think it is in his case. He manages the game well. What are your thoughts about him, and I've heard you made the Stetson Bennett comparison. When you think of Stockton as an NFL quarterback, what does that look like?

Can Georgia's Gunner Stockton be more than a game manager? (1:26)

RGIII:First, I have to say... every quarterback is a game manager Your job is to manage the game! Just certain guys have the elite traits — the speed, the big arm, the off-schedule plays, whatever it may be. I made the comparison to Stetson Bennett because Stetson always found a way to win the game. If you needed a 15-yard run, he'd do it. If you needed him to throw the ball 20 times and go 18-for-20, he'd do it. I think sometimes that gets overlooked. So for Gunner, where I think that he can separate himself from the Stetson Bennett comparisons is to continue to develop his playmaking ability, and his aggressiveness when he throws the football. That's the thing.

I love Stetson. His height [5-foot-11] was an issue for some NFL evaluators, but with Brock Purdy [6-foot-1], that's not an issue. I just think it's about getting in the right situation, and that's kind of where Gunner finds himself.

DF:One guy you've mentioned, and I really like him, is Devon Dampier from Utah. Great as a thrower and a runner, and he will go through his progressions and make some really bang-on tight window throws. The more I watch Dampier, the more I'm like, "Yeah, we might have something here."

Utah's Devon Dampier could be the sleeper QB of the 2026 draft class (0:56)

RGIII:Yeah, Devin Dampier will be better when he has better receivers around him. He throws the football extremely hard. He's extremely confident when he throws the ball, and his ball placement is actually really, really good. He doesn't have the same types of weapons as Julian Sayin has, or Fernando Mendoza has, and that's no shot at Utah's wideouts. It's just the facts. For Dampier, when you evaluate him, you have to understand that he's going to be throwing to NFL talent, and give him a chance to prove that he can be an NFL-quality thrower. But I know that as a competitor, the man's got it all.

DF: You recently did a podcast episode with Marcel Reed from Texas A&M . I know you like him a lot. I have my thoughts about him, but you're the quarterback. So I want to get what you think his NFL transition is, and maybe the later-in-the-down stuff where it gets a little "interesting" once in a while.

Can Texas A&M 's Marcell Reed continue to develop in real time? (1:10)

RGIII:I think Marcel Reed is developing in real time. And the one thing that he does have is he's working off of the base of an elite trait. When we say elite traits, and you hear scouts say it all the time, I view it as you're either the fastest guy in the field, or you have the strongest arm on the field. Those are the really the elite traits when it comes to physicality, and then the brain.

Marcel has the brain. He has the elite running speed, and he's developing his elite traits as a thrower of the football. So I think that helped him in a major way He is coming back. He announced that on our podcast. So I think that's the right move. I think he could [eventually] go to the NFL and be an effective starter. And I think coming back, he has the chance to be the number one overall pick [in 2027].

DF:When it comes to guys in the 2026 draft class, or who you estimate will be because we don't know all of them yet, is there anything I'm missing on RGIII's big board of quarterbacks?

RGIII:No, I don't think there's anyone that you're missing. I know Arch Manning was the talk of the town and right now, he looks like he's gonna be coming back.

DF:Well, let's end there. What have you seen from his development, because it's been a rollercoaster, man. It's been all over the place.

Robert Griffin III evaluates Arch Manning 's 2025 season (1:34)

RGIII:Yeah, I just think he's he's had to learn and play under fire. Everyone is gonna be the first pick in the draft. He's gonna win the national championship, and then you fast-forward to the end of the year, and they're not in the tournament. But his numbers are very comparable to some of these other quarterbacks who are up for the Heisman Trophy. So I think Arch had a really good comeback.

You kind of saw who he was through the adversity, and I'm proud of him as a player, because how you respond when you don't succeed determines your career, and really how your life is going to go. I think Arch has a very bright future And I know he'll hear the same talk that happened this year. It's gonna be happening next year, and I think he warranted it now because of the way that he played down the stretch.

DF:Well, you know how quarterbacks can be over-scrutinized.

RGIII:Oh, yeah, no doubt about it. But hey, we get a ton of praise, and we get all the blame. The bottom line is, your job as a leader is to take both sides of that.

This story was originally published by Athlon Sports on Dec 11, 2025, where it first appeared in the NFL section. Add Athlon Sports as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

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