Cleveland Browns: 3 takeaways from rookie minicamp
By Thomas Moore
This needs to be said up front: barring an injury or an absolute disaster during training camp or the preseason, Robert Griffin III is going to be the starting quarterback in 2016.
Because this is Cleveland, and because there is apparently not one single other storyline with this team, the subject of Griffin vs. third-round draft pick Cody Kessler came up during the rookie minicamp.
Somehow the idea that Jackson won’t name a starting quarterback more than four months before the next time the Browns play a meaningful game, or that he even has to, had led some to speculate that the position is wide open. Which it clearly is not, as Jackson managed to explain with a straight face.
“I know everybody wants us to anoint a guy. That’s not going to happen right this second,” Jackson explained, according to the team’s website. “I don’t think I’ve had enough time and they haven’t had enough time in this system that we run to feel very comfortable yet. Let’s go through OTAs. Let’s get into training camp and let’s see where we are when the real bullets start flying, when guys are going after you trying to take you down. That’s when we’ll have a better idea about our football team in general.”
While the Browns did not give up anything other than a relatively small sum of cash to acquire Griffin, they clearly signed him to, at the very least, open the season as the team’s starter. It is also just as likely that he is a one-year option (two at the most) to hold things down as the Browns continue their search for a franchise quarterback – a search that may or may not include Griffin past this season.
“You know, our plan would be for Robert to come in and solidify himself and you know, if we felt like he was our answer long term, we would begin to work on a long-term deal,” Brown said in published reports. “Way premature to talk about at this point. He’s gotta come in and earn the starting job and then show that he can lead our offense in a manner that is going to be successful in this division and ultimately in a Super Bowl.”
You never have to go very far to hear someone talking about the Browns and their quarterbacks. But in this case, it may be time to slow it down a bit.
Next: The rookies are not really out of shape