Brock Osweiler not ready to give up the quarterback fight

Cleveland Browns quarterback Brock Osweiler is not ready to give up the fight for the starter’s role, even though the battle is likely lost.

Brock Osweiler came to Cleveland in March with no expectations, except the ones he placed on himself.

A sought-after quarterback in free agency following the 2015 season, Osweiler was a one-and-done starter for the Houston Texans in 2016.

Houston was so eager to get out of the $16 million they owed Osweiler for the upcoming season, a deal they were equally eager to agree to just a year earlier, that they threw in a second-round draft pick so the Browns would take Osweiler off their hands.

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On Wednesday, head coach Hue Jackson announced that rookie DeShone Kizer will start Saturday’s preseason game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and that Osweiler will not see any playing time.

Jackson did not come out and say that Kizer will open the regular season as the starter, but it would take an injury, or an absolutely horrific performance, for Kizer not to be the starter when the Browns open up against the Pittsburgh Steelers.

After all he has been through in the past year-and-a-half, it is no surprise that Osweiler is not ready to give up the fight, even though Jackson has clearly seen enough.

Osweiler said that he simply going to keep doing what he has done since arriving in town, according to cleveland.com:

"“Every single player that’s here today at this practice facility would tell you their aspirations are to be a starter and to help their team win football games. So, I’m certainly disappointed that I’m not starting the Tampa Bay game, but by no means does that mean that’s the end of the season or the end of that. It’s one football game right now. Whether you’re a one, two or three you can get called up real quick. All of the quarterbacks experienced that here last year and I’ve experienced that, so you always need to stay prepared.”"

Osweiler clearly knows his history, especially when it comes to the Browns, who have not had a quarterback start 16 games in one season since Tim Couch in 2001. So there is a chance we haven’t seen the last of Osweiler behind center for the Browns (unless executive vice president of football operations Sashi Brown can swing a trade before the start of the season).

For a player that has been disliked by a larger portion of the fan base despite never playing a regular-season down for the Browns, Osweiler has been a pro about his situation from the start.

That was enough to get him through training camp and the first two preseason games as the starter, but that was as far as he could get.

Next: DeShone Kizer named starter for third preseason game

The sixth-year veteran may not be ready to give up the fight, but with the Kizer train leaving the station on Saturday night, at this point the best that Osweiler can hope for is that he gets to go along for the ride.