Former NFL head coach and defensive back Tony Dungy, who knows a thing or two or three about quarterbacks after coaching – and coaching up – Peyton Manning, was on ESPN radio the other day talking about the position.

 

More specifically, he was asked if he can tell how successful a young, unproven quarterback will be just by being around him for a while. Dungy said that yes, on some occasions, he can, citing a fellow rookie by name of Joe Montana with whom he played on the San Francisco 49ers in 1979.

 

With that having been said, then, I wonder what Browns head coach Hue Jackson thinks about his top two quarterbacks, Brock Osweiler and DeShone Kizer.

 

No, not what he says to the media he thinks about them. Jackson is a positive, the-glass-is-half-full kind of guy who will never throw one of his players under the bus. He will always try to say something positive. That’s just the way he is, and the players appreciate that. Nobody wants to get publicly humiliated. Jackson saves his honest critique for a time when he and the player are behind closed doors.

 

What I’m talking about is what Jackson really, truly thinks about them in a brutally honest way, even more so than what he delivers to the players directly in private. It is what Jackson keeps mostly in his head and heart, sharing those thoughts only with a few trusted assistant coaches.

 

If any of us could be a fly on the wall, then we would hear some incredibly interesting and revealing stuff. More than that, we would get a clear picture of how the guy they call “The Quarterback Whisperer” thinks this Osweiler-Kizer battle will play out, not just immediately but over the long haul.

 

The most interesting stuff of all would be his explanation of why Jackson thinks what he does.

 

But we’re never going to hear that – at least not now – so we’ll just have to speculate.

 

OK, what do you think Hue thinks?