The Browns still don’t understand the importance of the quarterback position.
A recent article, whose author is privy to the strategy of the team’s top brass, stated that the Browns are looking to do what they could to cut the salary cap bite that the quarterback position commands.
In a way, I get that. Whether you’re a football team or just a family, we’re all looking to reduce costs. But because quarterback is the most important position in team sports, you never cut cost there unless you don’t you don’t care about winning.
Deshaun Watson, with his fully-guaranteed $230 million contract, is expensive, but if he’s as good as the Browns think he is, then he will be worth every penny of it. However, every team needs a good backup quarterback as well. That backup is one step away from going in and being the No. 1 guy, trying to help lead the team to victories. If you don’t have a good back up, then you are in big trouble.
You get what you pay for in all walks of life when you’re making purchases, so if you go cheap on the backup quarterback, and the backup quarterback is worth only the cheap amount that you pay him, the team is going to flounder if he hast to play.
Last year, the Browns stayed afloat, and then some, with Jacoby Brissett having to play the first 11 games as Watson served a suspension stemming from his off-the-field transgressions.
In 1988, as the Browns were pushing to get to the Super Bowl in the Bernie Kosar era, backup quarterbacks saved the day in helping lead the Browns into the playoffs despite a slew of injuries to the position.
Last year, the Browns didn’t understand the value of having good defensive tackles, and it caused the defense to struggle overall because of its inability to stop the run.
And now this year, the inability to understand the importance of quarterback looms as a place the Browns may hurt themselves again. They have failed to understand, and handle, the quarterback position throughout the expansion era, and it has cost them dearly. I am amazed that these long-standing isduez have not forced the movers and shakers in Berea to reconsider their actions, but then again, some people just never learn.
Steve King
