The Browns already have Robert Griffin III at quarterback.
And, in just over a month when the NFL Draft is held, it looks as if they will use their No. 2 overall pick to take another quarterback in either Jared Goff or Carson Wentz.
That will be the easy part. The hard part is what will come next.
Griffin is built for the read option. He’s a guy on the move, someone who can beat you with his legs as well as his arm.
Goff and Wentz are almost identical in that they are big, strong guys who will plant their feet in the pocket and throw the ball. They can run, but they don’t want to, and the Browns will not want them to do so, either, lest they get hurt. And if you’re the second pick in the draft, getting hurt is not an option.
But here’s the $64,000 question and what will be the thing to watch when the Browns begin practicing: That is, head coach Hue Jackson is going to have to draw up and install two completely different offenses, one for Griffin and another for Goff/Wentz. Quarterbacks Austin Davis and Connor Shaw, or whomever is on the roster, will have to learns parts of both schemes.
It won’t be easy. It’s hard enough to design one offense, but two? Yikes! But Jackson’s calling card is that he knows offense and quarterbacks, so this is right up his alley.
Still, there will be a number of challenges, one of which will be for Jackson to find at least some common ground between the two so that there will be a group of plays, albeit small, that can be used in both offenses. That will make the learning process a little easier on everyone. Remember, the quarterbacks aren’t the only ones having to learn this. The rest of the offensive players are going to have to digest two very different playbooks.
Among the other crucial things to work through will be the passing attack. The receivers will have to adapt to Griffin and the read option, and then to the rookie with a more conventional scheme. The reads will be completely different, just as will the types of routes.
The blockers will have it tough as well, for they will have to protect a moving target in Griffin and then a pocket passer in the rookie. The footwork and philosophy will be like apples and oranges.
Indeed, there will be a lot of moving parts.
The likely result is that this offense – these offenses – will struggle, perhaps even mightily, at first. That’s going to be a disappointment for everyone involved, and Jackson is going to have to preach patience, lest players – and the fans, who are so eager to see this team start winning — get overwhelmed and discouraged.
But things will eventually get ironed out. Each day, with the added repetitions, will get a little better.
We must continue to stress that the trump card in all this is Jackson. This is why he’s here, why the Browns wanted him, went after him and hired him.
Rebuilding this once-proud franchise will the biggest task Jackson has ever taken on in his career, and the first big key to success in that will be getting everybody on offense to understand what’s going on, and then work in concert. And that will be his second-biggest task ever.
The problem is that with the Baltimore Ravens, Cincinnati Bengals and Pittsburgh Steelers in the AFC North, there is little time for a learning curve.
But a learning curve it will have to be for a while. That Jackson has brought in a lot of veteran assistants on offense like Pep Hamilton, Al Saunders and Kirby Wilson will help immeasurably.
