When I spoke with Jim Donovan two days before training camp started, the longtime Browns radio play-by-play announcer and sports director at Cleveland’s WKYC-TV said a lot of thought-provoking things. Nobody knows more about the Browns than he does, so I listened closely to everything he had to say on a wide variety of topics concerning the team.

 

But there was something that really stood out – something that has stuck with me over the last month.

 

“The Browns’ chief people – their decision-makers – have to all be on the same page concerning how this quarterback situation is going to play out,” he said. “That hasn’t really happened much over the years with the various regimes.

 

“But these guys right now appear to be on the same page. They’re all playing nice with one another in the sandbox. We’ll see if it continues.”

 

It has indeed continued. The naming of rookie DeShone Kizer as the starter for the important third preseason game against the host Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Saturday night – and the strong likelihood that he will also start the regular-season opener against the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sept. 10 — proves it conclusively.

 

Browns head coach Hue Jackson would not have given the job to Kizer if Executive Vice President of Football Operations Sashi Brown had not agreed it was the right move by signing off on it. And neither man would have picked Kizer had Browns owner Jimmy Haslam been dead-set against it.

 

The Browns have really put themselves out there by doing this. Indeed, this is a bold move. It always is when you start rookies at any position in the NFL. But when you start a rookie at quarterback – especially in the first game of the season, at home, against your arch rivals and the club that is at the top of the AFC North – it really rachets up the boldness. It is a possible franchise-changer.

 

Jackson, Brown and Haslam know that. Kizer could be the key piece in this complete rebuilding effort and the franchise quarterback the Browns have searched for, for nearly 20 years. Or this decision could blow up in their faces and force them to go back into the NFL Draft next year to get another quarterback.

 

It’s impossible to predict how it will work out. But the Browns won’t know unless they try, and it takes a lot of nerve to try.

 

However it turns out, the Browns’ top guys will celebrate – or commiserate – together, and that’s a big deal for this club going forward.