He played college football for the Baylor Bears, winning the Heisman Trophy as a senior, and was selected second overall by the Washington Redskins in the 2012 NFL draft.

[1] Griffin attended Copperas Cove High School in Texas, where he was a three-sport star in basketball, football, and track for the Bulldogs.

In his senior season Copperas Cove finished with a record of 13–2, but lost in the championship game of the 2007 Class 4A Division I state playoffs.

[9] Rivals.com, a college football recruiting service, ranked Griffin the fourth-best dual-threat quarterback in the nation and the 42nd-best player in Texas in the high school prospect class of 2008.

[11] During the college recruiting period, Griffin was pursued by Stanford, Tennessee, Kansas, Nebraska, Houston, Tulsa, Illinois, Washington State, and Oregon.

[28] Following the win, Baylor entered the AP Poll rankings for only the third time in the previous 15 seasons, at 20th,[29][30] and Griffin was considered by many to be a Heisman Trophy candidate.

[33] In week five against Kansas State, Griffin almost brought the Bears to their fourth win, going 23 out of 31 (74.2%) for 346 yards and 5 touchdowns with only 1 interception, but they lost 36–35 to the Wildcats.

Due to the Alamo Bowl, Griffin became the first player since Tim Tebow in 2007 to win the Heisman and not appear in the National Championship (#1 LSU faced #2 Alabama).

[39] Griffin, who graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science with a 3.67 grade point average in December 2010, began pursuing a Master's in communications in 2011.

2 pick of the draft, but the St. Louis Rams—the team originally holding the pick—had already selected Sam Bradford to be their long-term starting quarterback with the No.

Wanting to stick with Bradford, the Rams decided to deal the pick prior to the draft, with the Cleveland Browns and Washington Redskins perceived as the most interested bidders.

[66][67] He was named NFC Offensive Player of the Week for his performance[68] – the first time in NFL history that a rookie quarterback has been given that honor for his debut game.

[72] The next week against the Atlanta Falcons, he left the game late in the third quarter after suffering a mild concussion after receiving a blow to the head by Sean Weatherspoon.

[79] This record stood until 2015 when Tennessee Titans quarterback Marcus Mariota threw for a perfect passer rating at 21 years and 318 days old in his debut.

[80] In the Week 14 game against the Baltimore Ravens on December 9, the Redskins would suffer another injury scare when defensive end Haloti Ngata hit Griffin directly at his right knee, twisting it in the process.

[81][82] On the final drive of the fourth quarter, Griffin was tackled after rushing for 13 yards and hopped on one leg for several plays before leaving the game.

The knee injury emerged as a controversy on January 6, the day the Redskins faced the Seattle Seahawks in the NFC wild card game, when USA Today reported that – contrary to a previous statement made by head coach Mike Shanahan – Dr. James Andrews had not cleared Griffin to return for the post-injury plays in the December 9 game.

[91] Due to injuries on his ACL and LCL ligaments in his right knee, he was negated from the Pro Bowl roster and replaced by Drew Brees.

[95] After some controversy over whether Griffin would be ready for the season opener (he did not play a single preseason game), he debuted in the loss to Philadelphia Eagles.

[96] Griffin failed to replicate his 2012 success during the first half of the 2013 season and remained statistically below expectations until Washington's Week 7 game against the Chicago Bears.

[98] The Redskins' 27–6 loss against the San Francisco 49ers in Week 12 was the first game in Griffin's collegiate and professional career where he failed to score a single offensive touchdown.

[108][109] During Week 2 of preseason in a win over the Detroit Lions, Griffin fumbled the ball and recovered it but had a defensive lineman fall on top of him.

[111] He ended up third on the quarterback depth chart, behind Cousins and Colt McCoy, and remained inactive for the entire regular season.

[115][116] On August 8, 2016, Browns head coach Hue Jackson named Griffin the team's starting quarterback for the 2016 season.

[117] Griffin was placed on injured reserve on September 12, after suffering a shoulder injury in the Browns' season opening loss to the Philadelphia Eagles.

[128] In Week 17 against the Pittsburgh Steelers, Griffin made his first start since the 2016 season because the Ravens secured the top seed in the AFC playoffs and sat their starters as a result.

[135] Griffin has publicly stated his desire to continue playing and that his contract with ESPN would allow him to sign with a team if the opportunity arises.

"[154] Before the start of his rookie season with the Washington Redskins, Griffin had signed a number of endorsement deals from companies including Adidas, Castrol Motor Oil, EA Sports, EvoShield, Gatorade, Nissan, and Subway.

According to ESPN's Dollars blog, Griffin had "earned more than any other rookie in NFL history before throwing his first regular-season pass," largely as a result of endorsements.

In December 2022, the foundation gave a one-day shopping spree at Walmart for 25 Boys & Girls Clubs members in his hometown of Copperas Cove, Texas.