The price for RG III is rising

While the Washington Redskins have gone from first to worst, quarterback Robert Griffin III has experienced a slide that is directly proportionate to his team's.

He has cost the Redskins games and could cost people their jobs -- and that won't turn out to be the biggest cost of all to Washington.

The St. Louis Rams have the Redskins' 2014 first-round draft pick, which is, as of now, the fifth overall choice. And that cost still could rise. Washington finishes the season with games against the Giants, Kansas City, at Atlanta, Dallas, and at the Giants. That first-round pick could turn out to be even higher, which would only add to the Rams' take in return for RG III.

So far, the Rams have turned Washington's picks into a bushel of players. They took the Redskins' first-round pick in 2012, traded back with Dallas and picked up an extra second-round pick, slid back a few more spots with Chicago for an extra fifth-round pick, and used those three picks on defensive tackle Michael Brockers, running back Isaiah Pead and guard Rokevious Watkins. They also used the Redskins' 2012 second-round pick on cornerback Janoris Jenkins.

Then, in the 2013 draft, the Rams traded Washington's first-round pick to Atlanta for an extra third-round pick and wound up with linebacker Alec Ogletree and wide receiver Stedman Bailey.

So there's the Rams haul: Brockers, Jenkins, Pead, Watkins, Ogletree, Bailey. So far.

Now the Rams are looking at potentially the highest pick yet from the deal. Then the book on the blockbuster RG III trade finally can be closed, with its cost calculated.

And during a season in which the Redskins' record keeps dropping, there's more bad news for Washington.

The price of RG III keeps going up.

Bigger, faster, stronger: Tall, fast, athletic tight ends such as Jimmy Graham and Julius Thomas are all the rage in the NFL. Now, make way for another.

San Diego's Ladarius Green, a 2012 fourth-round pick from Louisiana-Lafayette, has begun to blossom and is only going to get better and make more plays.

The 6-foot-6, 240-pound Green has had 80 receiving yards in each of San Diego's past two games. Last Sunday against Kansas City, Green registered the first touchdown of his career, a 60-yard catch that was the longest play from scrimmage for the Chargers this season.

Green is too big for defensive backs to cover and too fast for linebackers to cover, some of the same reasons that Graham and Thomas are effective.

As San Diego tries to make its playoff push to somehow capture the elusive last wild-card spot in the AFC, Green could be a player who helps the Chargers get there. Green will be a factor for the Chargers in their stretch run this season and, more significantly, a bigger factor in future seasons.

The NFL experiences a year unlike any other: Exactly one year ago Sunday, former Chiefs linebacker Jovan Belcher fatally shot his girlfriend, drove to Arrowhead Stadium and committed suicide in front of his then-coach Romeo Crennel and general manager Scott Pioli.

Since then, the NFL has experienced a year's worth of events that are unprecedented, unimaginable and, frankly, unbelievable.

• On Dec. 8, 2012, one week after Belcher murdered his girlfriend and took his own life, Cowboys nose tackle Josh Brent was charged with intoxication manslaughter after he flipped his car in an accident that killed teammate Jerry Brown in Irving, Texas.

• On Jan. 17, 2013, Bengals offensive tackle Andre Smith was arrested on a charge of carrying a loaded gun at Atlanta's airport.

• On Jan. 22, despite witnessing what happened on his team just a month earlier, then-Cowboys defensive tackle Jay Ratliff was charged with DWI after his pickup truck struck an 18-wheeler in Grapevine, Texas.

• On February 18, 2013, Buccaneers defensive end Da'Quan Bowers was arrested after a .40-caliber handgun was found in his luggage at New York's LaGuardia Airport.