NFL teams
Adam Schefter, ESPN Senior Writer 11y

RG III will start opener, sources say

NFL, Washington Redskins, Philadelphia Eagles

Robert Griffin III will start the Washington Redskins' season opener on "Monday Night Football" on Sept. 9 against the Philadelphia Eagles, sources close to the star quarterback said Wednesday.

Griffin has practiced the past two weeks without any setbacks to his surgically repaired knee and is coming off his best week of work yet.

Griffin still is scheduled to meet with Dr. James Andrews on Thursday night, before Washington plays at Tampa Bay in the teams' preseason finale, to get medical clearance. The Redskins-Eagles game (7 p.m. ET) is the first of two MNF games on ESPN on Sept. 9. Houston visits San Diego in the second game.

But the meeting with Andrews is just a formality, as Andrews cleared Griffin before training camp and only wants to re-examine him to make sure his recovery has progressed to everyone's satisfaction.

Griffin tore multiple ligaments in his right knee late in the Redskins' playoff game last season against Seattle. He said he feels better than he did before first injuring the knee when he was hit at the end of a second-down scramble Dec. 9 against Baltimore.

"I would say I'm 100 percent, but you can't put a number on it," Griffin told ESPN980 Radio in Washington earlier this week. "No one ever knows when they are 100 percent or what percentage they're playing at. The biggest thing is, I'm not below 100 percent."

He also said he can run just as fast as he did before first hurting the knee.

"If I had to run a 40 today at the combine in my underwear, I feel like I could run a 4.3-something," he told ESPN980.

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