Only Browns head coach Hue Jackson knows what Browns head coach Hue Jackson is really thinking about the team’s quarterback situation, but let’s take a guess anyway. After all, it’s what people in this business are supposed to do.
I think Jackson has seen enough of rookie Cody Kessler to know that he’s not the long-term answer. He thinks Kessler s good enough to keep on the roster as a young backup to bring along, but he doesn’t have the necessary arm strength nor the durability.
Jackson is not quite sure what to think about Robert Griffin III, but he knows that to have a firm opinion, he must see more than just a quarter or so. That’s why he wants to play Griffin ASAP, for as long as holds up. I think that’s a bad idea considering RG’s long history of injuries and the leaky state of the offensive line, but Jackson is going to play him anyway. In his gut, though, I think he believes that Griffin will turn out not to be the answer, either. However, he thinks Griffin can be the bridge to the franchise guy the Browns will pick in the NFL Draft.
Jackson wants to know all he can about RG3 because he is not going to suffer through a nightmare of a season like this ever again. The only way to do that is to figure out this quarterback situation. And the only way to do that – at least right now at this point in history — is to get as long of a look as possible on both the candidates. Josh McCown is not a candidate, obviously. He is, at best, a bridge to that guy.
And, as I said, that guy, in Jackson’s eyes, is not on the roster now.
In the meantime, we’ll watch Griffin – hopefully sooner rather than later now that he’s cleared to practice fully – and see what he can do. What does Jackson – or the Browns – have to lose?
