When the subject is the Browns, the talk quickly steers toward quarterbacks.
That’s a real shock, huh?
It’s been that way not just since the expansion era began in 1999, but going all the way back to 1993 when, midway through the season, the Browns unceremoniously cut Bernie Kosar, the last good quarterback they’ve had.
The current Browns have to get it right. They have to somehow get their man at quarterback. It – he – is by far the key piece of their massive rebuilding project.
This is where Hue Jackson comes in.
When he was hired as head coach 13½ months ago, it was done in no small part because of his reputation as a quarterback guru. Indeed, it was looked upon at the time as being a good fit because if any team has ever needed a QB guru – a quarterback whisperer, as it were — it is the Browns.
Jackson keeps telling us to trust him, that he will get this quarterback thing figured out. He won’t say it, but he knows he has to get it right.
If he doesn’t, then he and also likely the other principal members of this regime, such as Executive Vice President of Football Operations Sashi Brown, Chief Strategy Officer Paul DePodesta and Vice President of Player Personnel Andrew Berry, will eventually get fired.
So, yeah, it’s a big thing. It’s an important task – probably THE important task, really.
With that in mind, then, here’s hoping that Jackson has the final say on all the decisions involving quarterbacks. Certainly, there will be input – considerable input — from Brown, DePodesta, Berry and, of course, owners Jimmy and Dee Haslam.
It has to be a consensus decision. That’s how good organizations work, and the Browns are trying hard to turn the corner in being a good organization.
At the same time, though, all good organizations have a point man – a leader, a go-to guy – for various aspects of the operation. There have to be people to put on their big-boy, or big-girl, pants and make a decision — make a call – on what they know best.
And since Jackson is the contact person for, and the expert on, quarterbacks, it only makes sense for the Browns to defer to him when it comes time to pick their guy.
We hope that’s what happens. It would, without question, benefit everybody involved if it did
