Words mean things.
They really, truly do.
But not all words are the truth, obviously.
Take, for instance, all the talk about quarterbacks on the Browns, who consummated a big trade with the Philadelphia Eagles last Wednesday. Perhaps you head about it. In it, the Browns sent their No. 2 overall pick in the NFL Draft next Thursday night in exchange for the Eagles’ No. 8 overall selection and a slew of other choices over the next three drafts.
In fact, this trade paints with such a broad brush that one of the picks the Browns received is for 2018. That’s two years from now! In the rapid-fire world of the NFL, that’s an eternity. By 2018, Donald Trump could be coaching the Browns, Hillary Clinton could be coaching the Eagles, and our president might be John Kasich, with Bernie Sanders and Ted Cruz as his co-vice presidents.
But back to the quarterback talk. Let’s start with Browns Vice President of Football Operations Sashi Brown, who, in his pre-draft press conference on Thursday, was as giddy about the trade with Philadelphia as an NFL exec can be.
With the Browns now having no chance to get either of the two top-rated quarterbacks in North Dakota State’s Carson Wentz and Cal’s Jared Goff, it seems like a fait accompli that free-agent signee Robert Griffin III will be the starting quarterback for the team when it opens its regular season on Sept. 11 against, interestingly enough, the Eagles in Philadelphia.
Not so fast, my friend, Brown said Thursday.
“Robert isn’t even our starting quarterback yet,” Brown said. “He has to earn that spot.
“Is he another piece of our roster? Absolutely. In terms of bringing Robert to Cleveland, we’re excited about the potential for him to earn that starting job. On its merits of No. 2 versus what we were able to acquire, this was the right choice for building our roster and where we sit now.”
Then there are the comments of head coach Hue Jackson, also on Thursday.
“We have four quarterbacks on this football team, and Robert’s one of them,” he said. “He’s very talented as we know, and he’s growing and working hard each and every day. But so is (QB) Josh (McCown), so is (QB) Austin (Davis) and so will (QB) Connor (Shaw) when he’s able to truly be back out there. I feel very comfortable with where we are at our quarterback position, and now we’ll see how the draft unfolds.”
You have to appreciate the efforts of Brown and Jackson. Their posturing is admirable, and is considerate to the team’s other quarterbacks not named Robert Griffin III. Instead of just handing the job to RG3, they are making him “work” for it. And that is as it should be on any team, especially one in these parts.
As some kid from Akron once said, “In Northeast Ohio, nothing is given. You have to earn it.”
And so the Browns will put on the dog-and-pony show for however many months of “making” RG3 earn the job.
But if the truth be told, in all due respect, everything Brown and Jackson said was a big bunch of baloney, no different than that found In Trail, Ohio in Holmes County, which makes the best bologna in all the world. And if you don’t believe me, try it. You won’t be disappointed.
The Browns, particularly Jackson, wooed RG3 to come to Cleveland as if he were a college coach trying to land a five-star recruit. The Browns gave RG3 a two-year, $15 million contract. When Jackson talks about RG3, it’s as if he’s the coach’s prodigal son. Jackson doesn’t just smile. He gets giddy.
Jackson is confident about a lot of things, including that he can devise an offense in which RG3 will thrive and start resembling the guy who played so well as a rookie for the Washington Redskins in 2012.
There is no way – absolutely, positively no way in the world – that Jackson, barring something unforeseen such as a significant injury, will fail to be named the starter for the opener. Bank it. Bet everything you own on it. It has as much chance of happening as the sun does of coming up tomorrow morning, or that Clinton, Trump, Cruz, Sanders and our governor, Kasich, do of all saying something stupid sometime today.
Indeed, people, it’s a lock.
RG3 can misfire on every pass in these spring practices, training camp and the preseason, and he’ll still be the starter.
Period. End of statement.
The Browns are all in on RG3. Brown is all on on RG3. Jackson is all in on RG3.
Everybody at Browns Headquarters in Berea is all on RG3. No one dares stray off the reservation, lest they find themselves in the unemployment line.
The other three quarterbacks on the roster right now? They weren’t brought in by the current regime. RG3 was. The current regime will be patient to a fault with RG3 because they have everything invested in him. He is their guy. The other quarterbacks were the guys of the members of the previous regime. They’re being kept around only until the Browns can find replacements for them with more of their guys. It’s the way it works in all of pro sports, including the NFL.
Now, if RG3 doesn’t pan out – moreover, if he flames out miserably so – then Brown and Jackson are in some very serious trouble. They’ve hitched their wagon – their professional well-being and reputation — to this guy, deciding to go with him as the “franchise” guy for now instead of the man they would have taken with that No. 2 overall draft pick. If RG3 gets sent packing, then perhaps Jackson and Brown will be, too, for they would have made a horrible decision that will set the franchise back – yet again..
But as far as what Brown and Jackson said Thursday, they did absolutely the right thing – even if it wasn’t really the truth.
Yes, words do indeed mean things, and sometimes what they mean is to simply take the high road and be classy. White lies are allowed.
The stuff about all those presidential hopefuls? Yikes! Those are big black lies – thankfully so.
