Cleveland Browns to end QB1 charade by August 12

Cleveland Browns head coach Hue Jackson is still a few weeks away from naming his starting quarterback for the 2016 season.

The Cleveland Browns made their return to Berea on Thursday in preparation for the opening of training camp and head coach Hue Jackson wasted no time in setting a timetable to name the team’s starting quarterback for the 2016 season.

Jackson vowed that the decision will be revealed before the Browns first preseason friendly, which will take place on Aug. 12 against the Green Bay Packers at Lambeau Field.

“Whoever earns that job is going to earn it out there on the field,” Jackson said in a news conference. “We’re going to go through a process pretty soon. It’s going to show itself really quickly.

“I know everybody’s wanting me to say ‘here’s the guy’ but I still want to get out here with our players because all of them are going to have to earn a starting spot as we move forward. We’re going to hit the ground running tomorrow and start practice and start evaluating that position and all positions moving forward.”

While Jackson did not come out and say who among the group of Robert Griffin III, Josh McCown, Cody Kessler and Austin Davis will claim the coveted QB1 slot, it will be the biggest shock of all if Jackson doesn’t name Griffin as the starter.

The Browns did not invest much of anything in signing Griffin as a free agent this past off-season – just a little more than $6 million in guaranteed money – and they were the only team showing any real interest in him after the NFL saw Griffin’s career disintegrate in Washington, but it is extremely unlikely that the Browns brought him on board to be anything other than the starter out of the gate.

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For everything that McCown brings to the team, at age 37 he is most valuable Monday through Friday as essentially an extra quarterbacks coach, rather than on Sunday afternoons. Kessler is a raw rookie that should only see the field this fall when he makes his inevitable Week 17 start as the only healthy quarterback on the roster. Davis is nothing more than a camp arm that will most likely be on his way out of town in a few weeks.

As to why Jackson just doesn’t come out and say the Griffin is the starter is a bit of a mystery, but as Jackson pointed out earlier this summer there is no need to rush.

Griffin hasn’t played a competitive NFL game since 2014, and while everyone around the team was positive about his work in minicamp and OTAs, there is a difference between looking good in shorts and looking good when the pads go on.

The Browns also have 10 practices plus the annual Orange & Brown scrimmage before they take on the Packers, which should give the coaching staff plenty of time to see if Griffin has anything left before they make the decision. If not, well, that’s why they have McCown on the roster.

Once Jackson makes the decision the one thing he has to do is stick with it and give Griffin (or McCown) as many first-team reps as possible. It sounds simple, but we’ve seen the Browns make that mistake in the past, most notably with Jeff Garcia in 2004 and Brandon Weeden in 2012. There is no indication that Jackson will make that same mistake, but it bears keeping an eye on.

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Everyone is anxious to see what the Browns look like under Jackson, but when it comes to the starting quarterback, fans will have to wait just a little bit longer.

Which is not a bad thing at all.