First and foremost, you can quit worrying — or perhaps, hoping — that rookie DeShone Kizer will start anytime soon. Kizer has admitted he’s not ready to be … well, ready at the beginning of the regular season. As with all rookies, especially those at the difficult-to-grasp position of quarterback, he’s got a lot to learn. Head coach Hue Jackson gave him a cram course during the OTAs and mini camps, and will continue to do so once training camp commences. But at the same time, he’s not going to try to overwhelm Kizer, for that will only cause him to regress. He’s not making it easy on Kizer, but he’s not going to make it too hard, either.
At some point this season, Kizer will get a chance to show what he can do. He could be the face of the franchise someday, so he has to get onto the field this season. It just won’t be right away.
Brock Osweiler will get a chance as well. That chance will come in training camp. He could win the job, but it’s not likely. There are two reasons for that. Osweiler would have to be near-perfect, and based on what he’s done in his career, he doesn’t seem capable of that. People keep wanting to making excuses for the way he bombed out last season in Houston. But the fact of the matter is that it was perfectly set up for him. With the great defense of the Texans, all he had to do was avoid being terrible. He couldn’t do it. He was terrible.
The other reason Osweiler won’t win the job. It’s that Jackson doesn’t like him. Oh. I’m sure he’s OK with Osweiler, the man. But in being a great judge of quarterbacks, Jackson doesn’t like Osweiler, the player.
The odds-on favorite to win the job is Cody Kessler. He knows the system from having played here last season, and Jackson knows him. He knows what Kessler can, and can’t, do. Now, is he the long-term answer? Probably not. But he’s the answer for now in a season in which the Browns, still a year away from being able to seriously compete, won’t be pressed to win. He’s the best of a so-so group. Kizer could make this group much better, but that can’t happen for a while.
So it’s Kessler, at least for now, like it or not.
