How did we get to this point?

 

The Browns are just a few days away from their preseason opener against the New Orleans Saints on Thursday night at FirstEnergy Stadium and their starting quarterback will be … Brock Osweiler?

 

Really?

 

Really?!

 

Is this the same Brock Osweiler who the Browns weren’t supposed to keep when they acquired him in an offseason trade with the Houston Texans? They were going to deal him away before he ever practiced with them, remember? So the fact that he is still here – as the starter, no less – is nothing short of crazy.

 

So, once again, how did we get here?

 

We got here because:

 

*Cody Kessler didn’t take advantage of the fact he was the starter when training camp began. He failed miserably, in fact. With that, then, it’s not so much that Osweiler won the job – he didn’t do a whole lot, either – but that Kessler lost it.

 

*Osweiler, at 6-foot-7 and 235 pounds, has an AFC North quarterback body, while Kessler, at a much smaller 6-1 and 215 pounds, does not. And Browns head coach Hue Jackson, who knows this division well, values size a whole lot because of the pounding quarterbacks take against the tough, physical defenses of the Pittsburgh Steelers, Baltimore Ravens and Cincinnati Bengals.

 

*Osweiler throws a much better deep ball than Kessler, who struggles more on those passes than any other. And the Browns are going to have to go deep to get the safeties out of the box and open up holes for the running game they plan on using a lot.

 

*Osweiler has played in the NFL longer, and been much more successful, than Kessler.

 

*The Browns, wisely so, figured out that DeShone Kizer, like almost all rookies, is not ready to start right now. He needs to stand on the sideline for a while and watch and learn. Unless Osweiler is playing lights out and/or the Browns are playing lights out, Kizer, a second-round pick in the NFL Draft, will get plenty of chances this season to show what he has. But the time for that is still two or perhaps even three months away.