The Cleveland Browns are turning to quarterback Cody Kessler as the starter on Sunday. Can he succeed where other rookie quarterbacks have failed?
Since joining the NFL in 1950, the Cleveland Browns have drafted 47 quarterbacks.
Some, like Milt Plum, Brian Sipe and Bernie Kosar, have gone on to success. Many others, like Bob Ptacek, Rick Norton, Paul McDonald and Eric Zeier, have not.
On Sunday against the Miami Dolphins rookie Cody Kessler adds his name to the list as injuries to Robert Griffin III and Josh McCown have put the third-round pick on the field sooner than expected.
This is the 15th consecutive season that the Browns have started multiple quarterbacks and the eighth time they have started at least three quarterbacks in a single season.
Kessler is also the ninth quarterback that the Browns have drafted since 1999 who will start a game for the team. None of the previous eight won their debut, so if Kessler can pull out a win against the Dolphins it will truly be one for the records books.
“For me I have not looked at it as a dream come true,” Kessler said earlier this week. “For me I look at it as I want it to be positive. I want to go out and play my best and do everything I can possible to help this team get a win. Obviously I have worked, like I said, very hard to get here, but you have to perform now. That is what keeps you in this league.”
As we get ready for what may come on Sunday, let’s take a look back at how the debuts of the Browns rookie quarterbacks since 1999.
Tim Couch: Sept. 19, 1999, vs. Tennessee Titans
Tim Couch, who the Browns selected with the first overall selection of the 1999 NFL Draft, made his first start in Week 2 of that season.
The Browns fell behind early as Couch was tackled for a safety in the first quarter and Cleveland went into the half trailing the Titans, 16-3.
Couch teamed up with wide receiver Kevin Johnson for a 39-yard touchdown pass in the third quarter, the first touchdown of the season for the Browns. It was the only time that Cleveland would find the end zone that day as they lost to the Titans by a final score of 26-9.
Couch finished the game 12-of-24 for 134 yards and a touchdown pass, but was sacked seven times and only led the Browns to 173 yards of total offense.
Spergon Wynn: Dec. 3, 2000, vs. Jacksonville Jaguars
The Browns lost Tim Couch to a thumb injury in the middle of October, forcing the team to juggle quarterbacks Doug Pederson and rookie Spergon Wynn in and out of the lineup for the rest of the season.
Following a 44-7 loss to the Baltimore Ravens that dropped Cleveland record to 3-10, the Browns turned to Wynn as the starter on the road against the Jacksonville Jaguars.
The day turned into a historic disaster for the Browns, as Wynn led the offense to just 53 total yards and a franchise-record minus-nine yards of passing. Wynn finished the day five-of-16 for 17 yards, helping to explain how the offense only achieved two first downs and never crossed midfield during the 48-0 loss.
Luke McCown: Dec. 5, 2004, vs. New England Patriots
It would be four years before injuries forced the Browns to turn to another rookie quarterback.
A week after losing quarterback Kelly Holcomb to injury and seeing head coach Butch Davis quit after having a panic attack, the Browns turned to Luke McCown, the team’s fourth-round draft pick that season brother of current Browns quarterback Josh McCown.
Even though the Browns lost to the New England Patriots that day, 42-15, McCown actually had a decent game, finishing 20-of-34 for 277 yards and a pair of touchdown passes to Antonio Bryant.
McCown had two of Cleveland’s four turnovers, however, and the running game only added 46 yards to the effort, while the defense allowed 200 rushing yards to the Patriots.
Charlie Frye: Dec. 4, 2005, vs. Jacksonville Jaguars
December in Cleveland brings cold weather, holiday cheer and rookie quarterbacks making their first NFL start.
The Browns turned to third-round pick Charlie Frye for a home game against the Jacksonville Jaguars. Things looked good early on as the Browns jumped out to a 14-3 halftime lead as Frye hit fellow rookie Braylon Edwards for touchdowns of 34 and 17 yards.
The Jaguars shut down the fun in the second half, however, limiting the Browns to just 39 yards of total offense and zero points in the game’s final two quarters en route to a 20-14 win.
Frye finished the game 13-of-20 for 226 yards and the two touchdowns, but took five sacks as the Browns fell to 4-8 on the season.
Factory of Sadness
Brady Quinn: Nov. 6, 2008, vs. Denver Broncos
Having grown tired of quarterback Derek Anderson’s erratic ways, the Browns turned to Brady Quinn, the team’s first-round selection in 2007, for a nationally televised game against the Denver Broncos.
Quinn led the Browns to a 23-10 lead in the third quarter thanks to a pair of touchdown passes to tight end Kellen Winslow and drove the Browns into the lead with five minutes remaining, but the Broncos prevailed with 21 points in the final quarter to hand the Browns a 34-30 loss.
Quinn ended the night completing 23-of-35 passes for 239 yards and the two touchdown passes while leading the offense to almost 400 yards of offense. For one night at least it appeared the Browns had solved their quarterback issue. But reality would soon set in as Quinn’s debut was one of the few high points of his time in Cleveland.
Colt McCoy: Oct. 17, 2010, vs. Pittsburgh Steelers
It took two years, but the Browns were once again teased with false hope when they traveled to Pittsburgh to take on the Steelers.
Cleveland had lost both Jake Delhomme and Seneca Wallace to injury in the opening weeks of the season, forcing the team to turn to rookie Colt McCoy as its starting quarterback.
While the Browns went down to the Steelers without much of a fight, McCoy led the Browns to an early 3-0 lead. Pittsburgh took control from there by scoring 21 consecutive points. McCoy finally got the Browns into the end zone in the fourth quarter when he hit tight end Ben Watson with a 12-yard touchdown pass.
McCoy completed 23-of-33 passes for 281 yards, but also threw two interceptions and was sacked six times while only leading the Browns to 10 points.
The McCoy party would last for two more weeks, as he led the Browns to upsets of the New Orleans Saints and New England Patriots, before the inevitable set in for McCoy and the Browns.
Brandon Weeden: Sept. 9, 2012, vs. Philadelphia Eagles
Brandon Weeden gave Browns fans a taste of what was to come on opening day of 2012 against the Philadelphia Eagles.
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Weeden threw four interceptions, led the Browns offense to just over 200 total yards and finished the game with a passer rating of 5.1 as Cleveland dropped another home opener.
The Browns could have pulled the game out, however, if linebacker L.J. Fort held onto a game-winning interception late in the fourth quarter, or if the defense had not given up more than 450 yards to the Eagles.
Cleveland had one final chance to win the game, but Weeden’s final interception killed the team’s final drive. Weeden finished the game completing just 12 of his 35 pass attempts for 118 yards in addition to the four interceptions.
Little did fans know it that day, but Weeden’s poor performance had set the Browns on a path that would lead them to making the biggest draft mistake in franchise history.
Johnny Manziel: Dec. 14, 2014, vs. Cincinnati Bengals
As bad as Spergon Wynn, Brandon Weeden and some of the other quarterbacks have been in their debuts over the years, nothing will ever top the disaster that was Johnny Manziel.
With a once-promising 2014 season unraveling and facing pressure from the front office, then-head coach Mike Pettine made the mistake of turning the team over to Manziel for a home game against the Cincinnati Bengals.
In a 30-0 loss to the Bengals that was worse than the score indicated:
Manziel finished the game just 10-of-18 for 80 yards (32 of which came on one pass and run to Josh Gordon), with two interceptions and three sacks.
The Browns were just one-of-10 on third down, only had five first downs all game – two of them came on penalties – and amassed 107 yards of total offense.
The shutout was the first time the Browns did not score since Nov. 16, 2009 against Baltimore.
The game was a preview of Manziel as an NFL quarterback – unprepared, a never-ending string of three-and-outs, an inability to put points on the board – if the Browns had simply released Manziel after the game it would have the greatest move by then-general manager Ray Farmer.
Next: Cody Kessler facing impossible task
So what does that mean for Kessler?
“I know my time with him here, but I have never had to coach him in a game. This will be the first opportunity for him, but I am not going to stress about it that way if we know we prepare right,” head coach Hue Jackson said this week. “That just gives him the opportunity to play well. That does not mean he will play well. It means it gives him the opportunity to play well. His teammates and what we try to do with him will be the deciding factors in how well he plays.
“I feel good about what we are doing. We just have to keep stringing those days together and then let’s go to Miami and see what we can get done.”