Cody Kessler’s work ethic is great sign, still won’t start in 2016
Cleveland Browns rookie quarterback Cody Kessler has made it a habit to arrive at the team’s facility bright and early every day.
It is impressive when a player like Robert Griffin III shows up early to the team’s facility in Berea during the offseason. It is even more impressive when a presumptive backup like Cody Kessler shows up even earlier.
An article on clevelandbrowns.com explains how Kessler arrives at the team facility by at least 6:25 a.m. every morning so he can get to work and learn the playbook.
From the article:
"“I want to come into camp and act like I’ve been in this offense for 10 years, I want to be completely understanding of everything, I want to know how to read defenses in the NFL, I want to know how many different looks there are so that eliminates hesitation for me going into (training) camp,” Kessler said, “because in the NFL you have to play at a high level, you have to play at a fast pace and I’ve had a little bit of a taste of that in OTAs and going into minicamp."
Well, look at that. The Cleveland Browns drafted a quarterback who is putting in extra work so he is 100 percent ready to go on the first day of training camp.
This is not even the team’s projected starter, which makes this more impressive. Hue Jackson and members of the front office raved about Kessler when he was selected, and his work ethic is surely a reason why.
Kessler is expected to be the backup behind either Griffin or Josh McCown, with Griffin being the early favorite for the starting position, but Kessler’s extra work should help him have a chance of being the starter much sooner than expected. Just not in 2016.
The rookie was not brought in to be the starter this season, as making his NFL debut with this rebuilding offense would only serve to stunt the growth of his career. The team brought in Griffin to be the starter this year, unless he has a disappointing training camp and is beat out by McCown, which seems unlikely based on Griffin’s performance so far this offseason.
But there is nothing better than having a young quarterback be on the depth chart to push whoever is starting, keeping the starter from getting complacent. Kessler seems to be that player to push Griffin, and someone who will have a legitimate chance to win the job in 2017.
With the work ethic Kessler possesses, he may become one of the best quarterbacks drafted by the Browns since 1999.