DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Pure Football Forum Former Browns QBs May Win #2 Jobs Around League

This is actually kind of shocking, given how bad the QB position has been for us.

Former Browns may win No. 2 quarterback jobs for eight different teams - one-fourth of the NFL: Doug Lesmerises | cleveland.com
https://www.cleveland.com/expo/sports/er...tml#incart_2box

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Stumbled upon late Friday night, this stat is either so obvious everyone knows it, or perhaps one of the great statistical discoveries I've ever encountered.

By 4 p.m. Saturday, NFL teams must make make their final cuts to pare their rosters to 53 players.
When that happens, one-quarter of NFL teams may find that their backup quarterbacks are former Browns.
That's eight of the other 31 teams (actually 25.8 percent of the NFL) putting guys who weren't good enough to cut it in Cleveland now one snap away from running their offense.

Is that a good stat?

Or did you know in your heart that the Browns were a breeding ground for not-quite-good-enough-yet-maybe-passable quarterbacks?

Consider ...

DeShone Kizer in Green Bay

Kizer is locked in as the Packers' No. 2 behind Aaron Rodgers. Traded by the Browns in the offseason for safety Damarious Randall, Kizer beat out former backup Brett Hundley for the job. Green Bay then dealt Hundley to Seattle. So Kizer is the guy behind the guy.

Cody Kessler in Jacksonville

Dealt to the Jaguars in the offseason for a seventh-round pick, Kessler won the backup job behind Blake Bortles with a strong preseason. He was 36 of 46 for 332 yards, a touchdown and no interceptions in exhibition games and will open the year as the No. 2 for the team that reached the AFC Championship Game last year.

Colt McCoy in Washington

The Redskins like McCoy so much, they signed him to an extension this summer to keep him around as the backup in 2019. This season, he'll be the No. 2 behind Alex Smith.

McCoy started four games for the Redskins in 2014, but in the last three seasons has only played in two games as a backup. Yet he's clearly found a home in Washington.

Also, the No. 3 quarterback for the Redskins who is not expected to make it onto the roster and should be cut Saturday? Kevin Hogan, the one-game starter for the Browns last year.

Josh McCown in New York

The veteran is serving as the mentor for first-round draft pick and rookie starter Sam Darnold. With the trade of Teddy Bridgewater to New Orleans, McCown will also start the season next in line with the Jets if anything goes wrong with Darnold, the No. 3 pick in the draft.

The Jets were 5-8 in the 13 games McCown started last season.

Brian Hoyer in New England

Hoyer started six games in San Francisco last season, but when the 49ers traded for New England backup Jimmy Garoppolo, Hoyer was shipped to the Patriots as the new No. 2 to Tom Brady.

Rookie seventh-round pick Danny Etling is in camp with the Patriots, but the 32-year-old Hoyer is expected to hold onto the gig as Brady's backup.

Brandon Weeden in Houston

Weeden went 1-0 as a starter for the Texans in 2015, but he didn't get into a game the last two years. Still, the Texans, after releasing him before the season in 2017, signed him back in March.
Now Weeden, who has a record of 6-19 as a starter, is the No. 2 to Deshaun Watson, the second-year quarterback who tore his ACL in the middle of last season.

That's either a major risk by the Texans, or a strong belief in Weeden as the backup.

Brock Osweiler in Miami

Osweiler won the backup job in Miami. Of that there seems to be no doubt.
The Dolphins entered their final preseason game with Osweiler and David Fales battling to serve behind Ryan Tannehill. Osweiler went 16 of 25 for 147 yards and two scores, clearly outplaying Fales and seemingly winning the role.

Barring a surprise, he's a former Cleveland QB now in line as someone else's No. 2.

The question is whether he's really a former Browns quarterback.

Osweiler never took a snap for the Browns, never stood on their sideline during a regular season game. Famously acquired in March of 2017 after the Browns agreed to eat his $16 million salary and got a second-round pick from Houston for the trouble, he was dumped before the start of the 2017 season after looking less than average in the preseason.

So there's no Cleveland line on his six-year NFL statistical resume.

But you remember him, Browns fans. So I'm counting him.

Robert Griffin III in Baltimore

This one's a stretch. The first six quarterbacks on this list are solidly set in backup jobs, and Osweiler is as well and counts as long as you consider him a former Brown.

RG3 is more unsettled, but he has looked good this preseason.

No one knows whether the Ravens are going to keep him after he completed 27 of 41 passes for 243 yards and two touchdowns in the preseason, while also gaining 52 yards on 11 carries.

The Ravens have starting quarterback Joe Flacco, who is soon to be the past, and rookie Lamar Jackson, who is the future. Would keeping Griffin as a third quarterback make sense? Would letting him serve as the true backup, while Jackson watches and learns, be part of that?

Ravens writers are unsure. Griffin didn't play in Baltimore's fifth and final preseason game. That could be read as he was already set for the roster, he was held back as trade bait, or he was probably gone and the Ravens had seen enough.

Baltimore doesn't typically keep three quarterbacks. But working in Jackson may create an exception here. After not playing in 2017, Griffin may have shown enough to land on another roster as the No. 2 if Baltimore isn't the right fit.

Here's some advice, for the Ravens or another team looking at RG3.

If you're looking for a backup quarterback, former Browns are all the rage.



So that's eight.
That list does not include Derek Anderson, who started 34 games for the Browns between 2006 and 2009 before settling in as the long-time backup to Cam Newton in Carolina. Anderson played that role the last seven seasons, but at 35 he's out of football right now and maybe done with his career.

However, the Carolina backup situation was uncertain enough in the preseason that some wondered if Anderson might get a call to come back to his old No. 2 role. It appears that won't happen ... but if it did, he could make nine.

That list also does not include Austin Davis, who started two games at quarterback for the Browns in 2015. He went to camp with Seattle with a chance to win the backup job to Russell Wilson. But he played poorly enough that Seattle traded for Brett Hundley, the former Packers backup, who was made available by the presence of Kizer.

If Davis had played better, and Anderson had been called back, that could have been 10.

And then there's that starting QB for Montreal in the Canadian Football League.

Maybe, if things go well, Johnny Manziel will one day add to the esteemed legacy of failed Browns starters finding backup jobs somewhere else.

Proving how poorly we draft every year. We spend high draft picks on qb after qb and after years of being in the NFL they have “elevated” themselves to second string on another team.

Yeah, we've always been good at drafting career back ups.

That's like a quarter of the NFL has former Browns QBs

yeah, well we've had like 100

An almost ex-Browns QB picked up a #2 job in Oakland.


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Source: The #Raiders traded for QB AJ McCarron.

Anything else spreading that prolifically would have the CDC declaring an outbreak & epidemic.

if it's more than a conditional 7th round pick that's surprising

LOL................all of that and none of them are starters.

*L* ... And the beat goes on ...

*L* it was their (long game) master plan all along ... Brilliant!

I saw Alex Tanney the other day in a game...never forget Alex Tanney.

I tried to forget Alex Tanney

and if anyone said these were awful poor selections by the Browns during their tenure you got ganged on and lynched

Weird..but it is what it is I guess.

Waste of an article.

Denver claimed Kevin Hogan, and waived Paxton Lynch.

Wow! Lych = Epic bust!

But... but... dude's got a canon!

Who could ever forget Trick Shot Tanney?!?

LOL i remember watching that video years ago now

Fate, the sad part is that I was not opposed to us drafting him at the top of round 2. Whoop-sie!

decision making speed matters more than arm talent

I think Kizer would've been a lot better playing the Baker role and riding the bench, learning.

Now he's doing that but instead of Stanton, he has the best QB in the league to ask questions to/etc.

The real good ones have both.... just saying...

Or maybe QB's are used has an easy escape goat for bad management....

Truth is most of the Qb's were not really that bad...

Just compare the number or former Browns that are backup Qb's to other offense skill positions, WR's and RB's....

IMHO, it was the idea that talented RB's and Wr's are a dime a dozen that held us back most of the times...

QB is the most dependent position on the field.

When a team lacks the basic requisite talent a QB is going to have a hard time looking good or being productive.

j/c

It's funny that if you did a poll asking which team has had the WORST track-record at QB over the last 20 years, it'd easily be us...if for no other reason than the widely-known T-Shirt.

Then...you see the number of former Browns QBs as the #2 and even #3 and shake your head. DA, Weeden and McCoy have carved out profitable careers. They will get retirement checks from the NFL. I don't feel like many of the other guys really "count" because they were vets when they got here.

Kizer may sit behind Rogers for 6-8 years and Kessler will likely be the second-coming of McCoy. Hogan may stick as a #3 for some time. Weeden is the only first-round pick of the lot and the only first-round QB to stick in the league...I won't type about Quinn and Manziel.

Sort of crazy when you look at it.

Not really. None of these guys see or will see substantial playing time. They're only good enough to be a backup on other teams, we started them.

No doubt. What is notable to me is that a number of those guys would have been fine backups here...if we had anything better in front of them. A long-term backup QB is something else that we've never had here STR...another product of continually-changing leadership.

Crazy that so many former Browns QBs have stuck so long in the league.

j/c:

Am I the only one who understands why the author penned that article?

j/a:

I don't care why he wrote that article. What difference does it make why he wrote that? Are those guys still in the league or not? It's interesting/crazy/ironic/meaningless.

Psssssssssst

This is all meaningless.

Why would you put "j/c" and then reply strictly to me? LOL

None of these guys are starters. What is the big freaking deal?

I put "j/a"...for "Just Answering". Back at ya with the LOL.

The article is painfully clear that those guys are just backups now. I don't think it's a big deal...just a story. As bad as we've been at finding a starter, it's funny that so many of our former QBs are still in the league. The non-Browns fans out there would be surprised to hear that.

Because it "proves" that it was not the QB position the cause of our pitiful success.

Now if we were talking about not getting to the post-season I would agree with you, but a bona fide back up QB would accomplish more than our record.

Josh proved it on NY,and to some degree Hoyer proved it here. Trading for TT also makes my point, don't you think?

j/c

OMG I HAVE A POSITIVE TAKE ON SOMETHING FOR ONCE:

To me this means we actually drafted good talent. Talent that failed due to bad team (Think Derek Andersen 2007 vs 2008 when we lost playmakers), or got hurt, or just weren't developed properly (Kizer, McCoy, and probably the bulk of the list).

We didn't draft DA (no biggie), the rest were never gonna be franchise QBs.

For his age, I'm still hopeful Kizer can make a name for himself. He has all the ability, just gotta get it mentally. He may never be coined a franchise QB, but there are a lot of starters in the league who aren't given that title either.