Cleveland Browns will draft a QB – if Hue Jacksons wants one
By Thomas Moore
The Cleveland Browns still need a quarterback and head coach Hue Jackson is going to find one no matter what it takes.
There is one universal truth that has enveloped the Cleveland Browns since the early 1990s.
They are not going to win anything until they find an actual NFL quarterback.
No more projects selected in the later rounds of the draft. No more veteran “bridge” quarterbacks that simply lead the team off another cliff. No more broken down reclamation projects.
We’re talking an actual quarterback, one who will lead the team for the next decade and, along the way, into the franchise’s first league championship since 1964.
That quarterback will come in the 2017 NFL Draft. Unless, of course, he doesn’t.
On the surface that may sound confusing, but if you pay close attention to what head coach Hue Jackson said this week during practice at the Senior Bowl things start to clear up.
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“I’ve seen it, and I have an idea, but I think it’s still too early in the process to say where I am, what I’m doing, what I’m not going to do, what we’re going to do as an organization,” Jackson said. “Our job is we’ve got to have a quarterback that plays winning football for us and that’s what we’re going to do. I said it at the last press conference: We’re going to find a guy that can win for us. And that’s what we have to do.
“It’s too important, it’s too important to our football team, to our fan base, to our organization. We’ve got to get that decision part of it right.”
Some fans may not want to hear it – and left tackle Joe Thomas may not agree – but the quarterback call is going to be Jackson’s all the way. He’s been around the league long enough to know that his chances of winning are greatly diminished if he has to relay on the likes of Robert Griffin III and Cody Kessler.
If Jackson falls in love with one of the draft-eligible quarterbacks – most likely from the trio of Clemson’s Deshaun Watson, North Carolina’s Mitch Trubisky and Notre Dame’s Deshone Kizer – the Browns are going to draft them. If it means that the use the No. 1 overall pick, well, get ready for it because that’s what is going to happen no matter the draft “experts” have to say about where those players should be selected.
In the somewhat unlikely event that Jackson decides to pass on a quarterback in the draft – hard to imagine for a coach that was easily impressed by Griffin completing passes against air during his workout – the Browns could turn to Buffalo’s Tyrod Taylor or New England’s Jimmy Garoppolo.
Those are less-appealing options for obvious reasons but, again, this is Jackson’s call and it is not that hard to see him convincing himself that he can turn another team’s ugly duckling into his swan.
It is a bit risky to give so much power to one person, but if Jackson is going to make this work it may be a risk worth taking for the Browns.
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After all, finally fixing the quarterback problem is the main reason that Jackson came to town – just ask him.
“That’s my job, he said, “that’s what I came to Cleveland for and I’m not going to stop until we get that guy.”