Phase 2: QB

Phase 1 of the important offseason decisions is complete.  The head coach and coordinators have been hired, now it’s time to move onto the next most important decision, QB.  What does the future hold concerning the QB position in Cleveland?  Do the Browns ride the Hoyer train, draft a guy, or pluck someone from another team’s roster? 

So what are the options?

1.  Draft – There are 3 guys in the upcoming draft that I expect to be franchise QB’s in the NFL for years to come.  Teddy Bridgewater, Johnny Manziel and Blake Bortles.  All three bring completely different things to the table.

• Johnny.   My #1 has all the tools and athletic ability you look for in a QB.  He’s smart, he has the arm strength and accuracy, he can make things happen and his mechanics are manageable but he doesn’t have the size which I’m able to look past although there are many that cannot.
• Teddy.   I like the guy.  He makes solid decisions and he has the size and mechanics that you want in an NFL QB.   I worry about his accuracy on the intermediate routes and his arm strength though.  It also appears that his hand size could be an issue but at the end of the day Teddy should be a good one.
• Bortles.  He is a wild card at 4 for me and I’m not sure I could pull the trigger on him.  I like him, I like everything about his game but I think he’ll need to sit for a couple years before he’ll be ready to be thrown in the driver’s seat. The question is if the Browns have that kind of time?

2.  KING HOYER.  Could it be time to jump on the Hoyer train and ride that bad boy across the country? Hoyer and Kirk Cousins play a similar game so it could be possible that Kyle Shanahan told the Browns FO that Hoyer is the guy for the job and he can make it work.  Even though Kirk Cousins never really made it work in Washington except for when he played against the Browns.

This isn’t the ideal situation but it’s not out of the question either.  The Browns could bring a guy in from the draft to challenge for the starting job, someone like AJ McCarron or Jimmy Garoppolo after the 2^nd round.

There are also some low tier free agents that will be available like Matt Cassell, Chad Henne, and Mike Vick that could all come in and back up the King.

3.  Trade/free agent – With Shanahan coming here and Kirk Cousins wanting out of Washington, I don’t think it’s that farfetched of an idea for him to land in Cleveland.  Is it an ideal situation?  Not if you ask me but I guess it could be worse.  Brandon Weeden could still be here.

The problem I see here is you have another stupid QB competition with two unproven QB’s that appear to be the same player, it could cause problems.   I think if the Browns are going to trade for someone or sign a free agent they should expand their mind a little bit and think outside of the box.  Go after Matt Schaub or Ryan Mallet.  Schaub has been a top 10 QB in this league for 6 out of his 7 years in the league as a starter, I don’t think his career is quite over yet and there is a chance that Houston lets him go.

As far as Mallet goes, I’m sick of hearing his name and talking about him but the option is there so we can just leave it at that.

At the end of the day the most important thing that needs to happen is Brandon Weeden and Jason Campbell need to be released from the team and unless someone throws a great offer at us for Hoyer, he deserves to stick around.  It’s time to move on to phase 2 and get this QB situation right at all costs and the best way to do that would be to draft Johnny Football or Teddy Bridgewater at 4, back him up with Brian Hoyer and draft a kid in or after the fifth round.