Six players the Cleveland Browns ran off, but should not have

Cody Kessler

But the most destructive loss? Don’t laugh—but it might have been Cody Kessler. Call him the “Bridge QB,” “Game Manager” or whatever, but because the Browns could not develop even a backup quarterback, it was necessary to spend $20 million dollars to bring Taylor and Drew Stanton to the team.

Kessler was given away for a seventh round pick for Jacksonville. This analyst believes that Kessler was erroneously benched in favor of an untried, inexperienced and poorly performing 21-year-old rookie in the person of DeShone Kizer. Had Kessler started the 2017 season, likely they would have avoided 0-16, and could have kept him around while waiting for Mayfield to take over.

Hence, giving up on Kessler—actually upon the entire 2017 quarterback room—was a major disaster that cost $20 million dollars to fix. This is not a criticism of Taylor, who is a true pro, only the observation that it might not have been necessary to trade for him had there been a viable bridge quarterback in the person of Kessler or one of the others: Josh McCown, Robert Griffin III, Kevin Hogan, Kizer, or Brock Osweiler.

The Browns did add some important players this season, but getting rid of these players for almost nothing is something the organization should have reconsidered.

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