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Hue Jackson: Cleveland Browns won't trade for QB

http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap3000000...r-a-quarterback

For the second year in a row, the Browns have lost their starting quarterback to injury in the season-opener.

With Robert Griffin III floating off to injured reserve with a battered non-throwing shoulder, Cleveland -- already facing a talent crisis on offense -- will toss veteran Josh McCown back into the fray ahead of massively raw rookie Cody Kessler.

The Browns also have first-year passer Kevin Hogan on the practice squad, but Cleveland -- in a familiar theme -- is flirting with a total free-fall at the position. Coach Hue Jackson, though, isn't about to deal for a signal-caller.

"I learned not to trade," Jackson quipped Monday. "Don't do that."

Jackson is speaking from experience. During his one-year stint as coach of the Raiders in 2011, he was widely criticized for shipping a first- and second-round pick to the Bengals in exchange for Carson Palmer after veteran Jason Campbell was lost to injury.

"I learned a valuable lesson in that situation, but I was just having a little fun right there," Jackson said. "I learned that if the team has been around the guy, who has a chance to be a quarterback, you're better off keeping the guy you have ... just because there's continuity. The guys know what to expect from that player and how he’s going to perform and what he's going to do. That was the biggest teacher for me."

Jackson went on to praise McCown, saying the journeyman passer gives the Browns something Oakland didn't have when Campbell went down.

"I hate to compare," Jackson said, "but we have a very capable backup here, a guy who has played in the National Football League for a lot of years and knows how to play and understands the lay of the land here and what needs to be done and I'm excited about that."

Ever the optimist, Jackson spoke enthusiastically on Monday about coaching up a roster with plenty of holes on both sides of the ball. To be fair, it's his only option.

Browns fans have been through decades of insanity and gridiron-based trauma, but here's the bottom line: With or without Griffin, this team is swirling toward a top-three draft pick.

Executive VP of football operations Sashi Brown said all along that Year 1 of the team's latest "relaunch" would be the hardest for fans to endure as the club accrues draft picks, reimagines the roster and embarks on a team-building plan for the long haul.

The worst approach would be to overspend for a low-ceiling veteran. While the list of free-agent help -- a heaping mass of no-namers like Ryan Lindley, McLeod Bethel-Thompson, Pat Devlin, Josh Freeman and (an ancient) Mike Vick -- don't offer inspiration, this year's Browns were never going to pique society's imagination to begin with.

This is a rotten place to be heading into Week 2, but it doesn't feel particularly more dire than the vast majority of Browns seasons dating back to their ill-fated relaunch back in 1999.

It's time for this ever-rebooting franchise to dig in, ignore the white noise, believe in their plan and pray the storms of dark magic surrounding this organization finally dry up and let the sunshine back in.

Robert Griffin III experiment should be over for Cleveland Browns -- Terry Pluto



CLEVELAND, Ohio -- The Robert Griffin III experiment is over.


The Browns won't say that after their quarterback suffered a significant shoulder injury during the 29-10 opening day loss in Philadephia.


But it's just common sense. Griffin is out for at least eight games after being hit near the sidelines in the final moments of Sunday's game. He has a broken bone in his left (non-throwing) shoulder.


While there was some debate about how it happened ... was Griffin trying to avoid contact or not ... that's irrelevant.


The 26-year-old Griffin has a long history of injuries. Those include two major knee surgeries (one in college, one in 2012) and a dislocated ankle (2014).


He has never had a fully healthy season in the NFL -- unless you count 2015 when he didn't take a regular season snap. But even in 2015, he suffered a concussion in the preseason.


By trading the No. 2 pick in the 2016 draft (passing up a chance to take Carson Wentz), the Browns could at least tell their fans and themselves that they were trying to revive the career of Griffin.


In 2012, Griffin was the NFL's Offensive Rookie of the Year.


Maybe it would work, or maybe not. But it was interesting to see what would happen.


Well, we saw.


Griffin could not stay healthy for a full regular season game.


The best hope for him is to recover and perhaps play a few games for the Browns near the end of the season. Maybe he can establish himself as a backup who can occasionally start.


But any real thought of Griffin being a starter for the Browns in 2017 should end right now.


While he made progress in the preseason, he still had some very shaky moments trying to run a conventional NFL offense. Throw in the durability issues, and it makes no sense to have much faith in Griffin as a starter.



TALKING ROOKIE QUARTERBACKS


Now, there is nothing for Browns fans to watch when it comes to quarterbacks, unless you want to track the progress of Wentz and torture yourself.


As a side note, how do you think Rams fans feel right now?


They had the No. 1 pick in the draft. They also passed on Wentz and selected Jared Goff from California. The Browns also liked Goff.


Goff opened the season as the Rams No. 3 quarterback.


He's behind Case Keenum and Sean Mannion. The average NFL fan probably doesn't know much about either guy.


Goff was 22-of-49 passing in the preseason with two touchdowns, two interceptions and three fumbles. He was having major problems adjusting from the all-shotgun, no-huddle offense at California to the standard NFL offense with the Rams.


Wentz was helped because his North Dakota State team played an NFL-style offense. That's not the case with many college quarterbacks these days because so many coaches are in love with the no-huddle, spread offenses.


The only other rookie quarterback to start the opening week was Dak Prescott for Dallas.


One eye-popping opening game doesn't mean Wentz will be a star. And one game as a third quarterback doesn't mean Goff is bust.


One game for the Browns doesn't mean trading down (and passing on Wentz) will be a disaster. There are lots of picks, lots of players.


Three of those players added in the trades showed promise in the opener -- Carl Nassib, Joe Schobert and Corey Coleman. The Browns also have a 2017 first rounder and second-round picks in 2017 and 2018 from the trade-down deals.


But when it comes to quarterbacks, the Browns are nowhere right now -- unless rookie Cody Kessler comes out of nowhere and surprises everyone late in the season.



WHAT McCOWN CAN DO


Here's a list of injuries:



Concussion
Bruised ribs
Sore shoulder
Bruised hand
Broken collarbone


Josh McCown had all those physical problems last season. He started only eight games, playing relatively well -- 12 TD passes, 4 interceptions, 93.3 rating.


But he couldn't stay healthy.


The Browns now need McCown on the field on Sunday. The 37-year-old veteran can bring some order to the offense, helping young players such as Terrelle Pryor, Isaiah Crowell, Duke Johnson, Rashard Higgins and Corey Coleman develop.


To begin to judge a team's young running backs and receivers, there must be at least respectable quarterback play.


McCown can supply that, but he must find a way to avoid all the hits he took a year ago.

http://www.cleveland.com/pluto/index...xperiment.html

It'd be one thing with Griffin had a long track record of success or a contract that tied him to the team. He has neither.

I agree with Pluto, the Griffin experiment should be over.

Probably not. He is saying Hue bought in to the go young movement.


We need to hope Josh can stay upright.....I agree, we are probably better with him under center.

this why Cleveland can't have nice things.

Cleveland Browns 2016: the March 2 0-16

I think Josh will be a better option due to him knowing what he is doing, and settling down the rookies in the huddle. If he stays healthy, he could go a long way in helping develop the offensive rookies.

This was my reaction... It's unbelievable

If we do go 0-16, what are the odds Jimmy cleans house again?

Cleveland has the championship Cavs and the Indians. I'm investing more of my time and money into them. I should say all because I spend a total of $0.00 on the Browns now.

Actually they would be 0-20. Might as well had those awful preseason games on there as well.

I'd say still slim, though the coordinators would be in trouble IMO

I honestly don't think there is any chance of it. Not after 1 year.

I think the most likely scenario is to move Hogan from PS to the active roster when they feel he's ready. I'm not sure there is a lot of difference between Kessler and Hogan.

I have always wondered about Logan Thomas; big body, big arm, but never advanced after his sophomore year at VT. Could he improve under the right coaching staff? Or is he one of those guys who just can't play QB in the NFL?

As I've stated before, I think Jimmy gets that the next few years are going to be lean as we rebuild. As long as FO/Coaching staff don't become as dysfunctional as the last 2 have, he stays the course.

I thought Thomas had potential at tech but he's on his third team in three years... Kind of telling...

Bummer. Real bummer. I feel bad for RG3. This is the last thing he needs. However, he always came with that risk. I just hope our team keep their cool and get fully behind McCown. A win Sunday would go a long way to restoring hope, calm and focus to the locker room after a bad preseason, a horrible season opener and now this injury to one of their captains.

All of this said...before RG3 received the nod for starter many of the journalists were praising McCown and speculating he would be the #1. I really don't know how much separation there is between RG3 and McCown. I know they are completely different QBs but they both have pluses and minuses. McCown was a warrior last year, he played his heart out and gave us his all. He was not the problem last year. In fact, before his own injury issues he was one of the bright spots. As long as he too stays healthy I think we are going to be no worse with him under center. I mean, it's not like we scored 24 or more points and were competitive. We scored 10!

I bet Hogan will be pulled up from the PS and let the two youngsters compete for the #2. Kessler will be the obvious choice now as he knows the system and playbook but, Hogan could eventually edge him out.

Bruce Arians had him and cut him. I don't think there is anyone better at coaching QBs than him in the NFL.

It's a crying shame. RG3 was a pleasant surprise. He kept his ego in check, he worked his ass off and he became a true leader of this team. He was like a rookie. He hadn't played in a while and it was a brand new offense. Still I thought he had a decent game one season one performance. I could see where there was growth potential.

What happned was RG3 was decelerating and he got pushed from behind which threw him forward into the other player. Just one of those things that happens in a contact sport. I hope we keep him even if we do draft a QB. On the Browns you can never have too many QB's.

Coach won't admit it but the offense is going to have to change for McCown. Josh doesn't have RG3's arm. So those long bombs are probably out. Short to mid range passing and no run game..... Bleak is a good word right about now... The Browns season prospects are bleak. I swear this team is CURSED.

I'd trade all 3 of them for Carson Wentz today. Now. This minute. Oh wait...

What's Mike Vick up to?

He officially changed his name to Ron Mexico and runs a dog fighting operation in Tiajuana.

SO WHAT IF WE GO 0-16! Nobody expected anything this year, I sure didn't. And a losing season is a losing season.

The colts were terrible the year luck was coming up to the draft. I'd love to be top dog sitting at number one next year or the year after depending on the QBs in those drafts. Being at the top of the draft means you don't have to make a foolish trade to get your man.

After this game Wentz looked really good and some of us are second guessing why we didn't take him. BIG DEAL. We didn't take him because there were to many question marks and he didn't grade out to be worthy of the 2nd overall pick, that's why. The FO, any FO for that matter, doesn't have a crystal ball and can't see the future. Wentz is still an unproven QB who just looked good against a very weak Browns team, time will tell if we missed a good QB but there is NO WAY of knowing that now or for the next few years.

People were like this over RG3 a few years ago too... We dodged that bullet, well almost anyway.

This FO is making solid moves. Some guys just will never be satisfied until we are champs and I understand that, but it would be nice to let this FO just follow through and do what they were hired to do for a change.

That's all I have to say about this.

Call Hogan up. Mechanically he was a mess but probably processed info better than Kessler. I'm not advocating his starting, just getting him reps because we ain't done yet...

It's always Sunny in Cleveland...

Being upset w/the fans is beyond ridiculous.

This isn't baseball. Football is a team game and not winning games is harmful to the culture of the team.

You can take out your pom poms and say the FO is making solid moves, but how in the hell do you really know that? How do you know that Wentz will suck? How do you know that Coleman will be good? How do you know Ogbah will be good? How do you know that Erving will be good? You don't.

Stop bashing the fans for the problems the Browns have created for themselves.

I preferred Hogan over Kessler before the draft.

Hope they had serious tiebreakers. That week one might have been a mob to sort out.

Might want to check back with Hue next week if McCown goes down as well. Dial up a different offense for McCown and his sidearm (not a cannon). Can't say I was overly impressed Sunday with the random offense. May as well use games as practice sessions and get our reps in.

But it's the fans that create unrealistic expectations for the team, then demand changes when we start losing. So rather than build any sort of foundation for progress, we keep scrapping everything and starting from scratch. Then every year we wonder why the offense looks like it's never played with each other. We've gone through ~20 QBs, 9 head coaches, a dozen coordinators and 2 owners, and we still suck. The only constant has been the fan base that keeps demanding we blow things up every year because we don't get instant gratification.

I agree w/that. And, while I criticize many Brown's moves, I am usually the last one saying not to fire guys.

It will come to down to Haslam. The fans [even those acting all positive right now] will be screaming bloody murder if we only win a couple of games this year and next. It's up to him to tune the mob out and stand by the plan.

We'll see...

You have to remember that while Wentz looked good he looked good against US who everyone seems to say has the least amount of talent and many young and new players which is true. We need a lot more time to evaluate whether our moves were right or wrong.

A blind pig finds the acorn every time.

http://www.ohio.com/blogs/cleveland-brow...sition-1.711421

Ah, yes. The bling pig.

No chance. Honestly, I think there is an outside chance that we may have planned to toss the season in the gutter in order to assure a top 3 pick.

The time is now to look at QB's coming out next year. That may be the plan all along.

At least I hope so. Because if they really thought they would win and maybe contend for the playoffs, then oh brother.. we're really in trouble. LOL

We had to break week 1 down into quarters.

8-8 seems like a reasonable expectation imo.

Yup. It's always good to get that first loss out of the way. Takes the pressure off.

Analytics?

After one game? Guy comes in, busts his ass, works hard at doing things right this time around and one game is all he gets? I'm not saying count on him. By all means draft a QB. But I would still keep Robert around and if he wins the job next season I'd give him another shot. Hell, he may come back in 7-8 weeks and show us a little bit.... I was not an RG3 fan back when everyone was jumping at the chance to throw first round picks around.... His signing didn't rate too high with me. Thought he was an egotistical jerkoff. He showed he can change. He worked at it.

It's interesting that so many are ready to jump ship on Robert yet Johnny idiot could run off to Reno and beat his GF and he was just fine.....Meathead can't keep from getting suspended but a lot of guys won't HEAR of trading or cutting him. But a guy comes in and really CHANGES. Does everything right and one injury ends it after one game..... man