Olympic Delays, Frank Ocean’s deadlines, and John Oliver on Journalism: While We’re Waiting…
August 8, 2016Michigan’s Jabrill Peppers: Ohio State “kicked our ass” in 2015
August 8, 2016Hue Jackson ended an entire offseason of suspense and intrigue by announcing Robert Griffin III as the starting quarterback of the Cleveland Browns. Either that, or Jackson formalized what anyone paying half attention understood to be the case since March 24 when Griffin signed with the Browns.
Jackson is considered both a no-nonsense and player’s coach, so it should not be shocking for the delay of the announcement. He insists on every player re-proving himself each season, each game, and each practice. So, after Griffin had fallen out of favor for the Washington Redskins to the point where he dropped behind Kirk Cousins and Colt McCoy on the depth chart1 , Jackson did not want to annoint Griffin out of the gate. Instead, he wanted Griffin to earn the position through the offseason.
“Since he was signed back in March, Robert has made it clear through his actions that he is willing to do everything that has been asked of him to earn this role. Throughout this process he has gained the respect from his teammates, the coaching staff and the entire organization that is necessary for him to lead our offense and really the entire team.” Jackson said “Pep (Hamilton) has done an outstanding job with that room to get us to this point so we can make this decision at what I feel is the optimal time which enables us to best prepare for the regular season. It’s now on Robert to show the organization and our fans that this is the right decision.”
Regardless, the Browns now can navigate through the NFL preseason without any charade of a quarterback competition skewing the focus from becoming the best team that the on-hand talent will allow. Whether or not that includes trading now officially backup quarterback Josh McCown remains to be seen.
Week 1 starting Quarterbacks for Browns since 1999
Barring preseason injury, Griffin will be the 14th Browns Week 1 starting quarterback in the last 18 seasons. No quarterback has started more than two Week 1 games as Tim Couch, Kelly Holcomb, Charlie Frye, and Brandon Weeden all share that honor. Johnny Manziel avoided making it onto this list despite being a first-round draft pick.
2016 Robert Griffin III
2015 Josh McCown
2014 Brian Hoyer
2013 Brandon Weeden
2012 Brandon Weeden
2011 Colt McCoy
2010 Jake Delhomme
2009 Brady Quinn
2008 Derek Anderson
2007 Charlie Frye2
2006 Charlie Frye
2005 Trent Dilfer
2004 Jeff Garcia
2003 Kelly Holcomb
2002 Kelly Holcomb
2001 Tim Couch
2000 Tim Couch
1999 Ty Detmer
29 Comments
I think the Browns offense has the potential to be pretty crazy this year, and I don’t necessarily mean in a good way (although it might be). We could see a lot of games where the offense does absolutely nothing for several drives, and then RG3 connects on a deep bomb to [insert Corey Coleman, Josh Gordon, Terrelle Pryor, Taylor Gabriel, Duke Johnson, Hollywood Higgins, Ricardo Louis, or Big Play Barnidge] for a TD. His short to intermediate accuracy leaves something to be desired, but it seems like RG3 still has the touch on those deep plays.
He’s a good fit to warm things up for Deshaun Watson next season.
I mean…duh?
You don’t sign this guy months ago to have him back up 48 year-old Josh McCown.
I think RG3 has good touch/accuracy on all his throws. You can see it in practices when receivers are route-running (pro-tip: follow Hayden Grove if for nothing else, the videos).
His issue, always has been, is that he cannot make the reads. Like a PG, some people have it and some don’t. You can coach it up to an extent, but it is an incredibly difficult skill to obtain. We’ll see.
I think there is a lot of young talent to sort out on that side of the ball, which means we will have the maddening sort of offense that makes you think it can be very good and then shoots itself in the foot frequently. I’ve resigned myself to the fact that it’s about development this year and I’m to be entertained by the youngsters emerging more than hope for victory.
Good point, I think we’ll need to wait for a preseason game to get an idea as to whether he’s been able to improve in that area or if he still just can’t make decisions fast enough. I know that generally Hue Jackson’s offenses emphasize getting the ball out quickly, which may take some of the pressure off of RG3 when making his reads. I also expect us to try to run the ball quite a bit, as that’s also a staple of a Hue Jackson offense. I don’t have a good feel for how well our line will run block this year.
RG3 drops back for a bomb to Gordon… who is running the wrong route… pick-6. Probably be a recurring theme.
The inability to make reads is due to the rise of the air-spread-raid-option video game offenses that infest the college game.
There’s a lot of youth, but the extent to which that truly affects the offense will come down to injuries. Penciling in starters as currently projected, we would have rookies at WR1 and possibly RT (if Drango or Coleman can unseat Bailey or Pasztor). First-time starters at WR2 (if Pryor wins that role for the 4 weeks before Gordon comes back) and C.
To an extent (and don’t leave out HS football there), but there are some QBs that still see the field like a field general and some that don’t. Cam Newton sees those short plays develop and hits the WR. RG3 has not (to give an extreme example).
You are assuming Gordon hits the field.
Cam Newton shocks me. He couldn’t even call a play at the Gruden QB show.
Auburn’s offense was basically, “give Cam the ball and watch him do something”.
Anyone can memorize some words/plays. It takes a special talent to be able to read what is actually happening, which is where Cam excels.
Instead of hitting the bong!
Winning doesn’t matter this year. In fact, it’s better if they don’t win. So now that RGIII is the man, it’s time to just get rid of McCown because he’s dangerous to that point of view. The old man doesn’t know how to go out there and play at 75% so he could steal a game and cost the Browns a crack at the top pick.
And he deserves a chance to hold a different colored clipboard.
note: he hasn’t failed a weed test since college
year-long was for alcohol (courtesy of IG posting of drinking on a charter plane w/ teammates)
before that one was the cough medicine
weed was his first strike, but taken from his time in college (and well-earned as he was pushed out of Baylor and Utah — and we have now seen the lengths it takes to get kicked out of Baylor)
He failed for weed. It sparked the whole debate about the threshold being too low.
http://grantland.com/the-triangle/josh-gordon-and-the-nfls-drug-problem/
Is that true? I can’t remember when, but I seem to remember a suspension where Browns fans were up in arms because the sample that was used had both an A and B. The A sample was under the limit, but the B sample was slightly over the limit. And that it wouldn’t have been a violation under the current testing limits, but was a violation at the time. Does that ring a bell or am I going crazy?
There was weed in the car when he got popped for speeding on 480.
But, of course it wasn’t his. π
yes, fair.
Forgot about that one. Apologies all-around. Yes, it was a diluted sample and the wonder about threshold levels (as Hop points out), which does make one wonder why the NFL is reinstating him (or how bad things are/were for Blackmon and such who haven’t been reinstated) considering that was just this past April.
McCown is really good at putting up empty stats that are good enough to never have a real chance at the win. Just look at the last two seasons from him.
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Put me in the camp of the NFL is going to nix the pot rule shortly.
There are a few guys that are rated way higher than the QBs are projected to be, but need to figure out the QB mess.
I think they reinstated him after they changed the rules on the threshold. I seem to recall them increasing it from like 15nanograms to somewhere around 50? I could be totally wrong.
Wildly inconsistent will probably be about right. Rookie tackles, 2nd year feature back, our “vet” WR won’t show til game 5, then you have rookies, a converted QB and Marlon Moore.
If Jackson gets any consistency in the first half of the season, he will truly be a miracle worker.
I think that is correct… and if I remember right, it’s still well south of the limit for IOC and other international organizations.
I love, love, love that we’re already talking about the 2017 Draft.
Cleveland: The more things change . . .