What the Cleveland Browns need from Jacoby Brissett this season

Jacoby Brissett was signed by the Cleveland Browns this offseason to be the backup to Deshaun Watson. What does the team need from him this season?

General manager Andrew Berry and the Cleveland Browns set out to completely revamp the quarterback room this offseason and that’s exactly what they did by trading for Deshaun Watson. After the trade went down, the Browns decided to sign Jacoby Brissett to be Watson’s backup, leaving Baker Mayfield as the odd man out.

Now, Mayfield still remains on the team and the Browns are looking for a possible suitor for the former No. 1 overall pick, but that is a bit complicated as no other team has stepped up to take on the fully guaranteed $18 million Mayfield Is owed. The team likely won’t cut him as they would still be on the hook for the majority of that $18 million. Either way, it will be Watson and Brissett on the roster come September.

Watson is looking at a possible suspension as he is still fighting 22 civil lawsuits for sexual misconduct. This could be anywhere from four to eight games, if not more or less. The Browns had already planned to move on from Mayfield, so it will be Brissett who steps in for Watson should he be suspended.

What do the Cleveland Browns need Brissett to do this season?

That answer is quite simple, actually. He needs to play well enough in the potential absence of Watson to keep the Browns in the mix not only in the AFC North but also in the AFC as the conference is absolutely loaded this season due to a plethora of offseason movement.

Brissett doesn’t need to come in and set the world on fire, he simply needs to make throws, not turn the ball over, and hand the ball to Nick Chubb or Kareem Hunt. He is entering his seventh NFL season after being drafted in the third round of the 2016 NFL Draft by the New England Patriots.

A year later he was shipped to the Indianapolis Colts, where he spent the next four seasons. Last year, he was the backup to Tua Tagovailoa in Miami.

Brissett has proven to be s serviceable NFL quarterback, which is all he needs to be should he have to start in place of Watson in 2022. For his career, he has thrown for 7,742 yards, 36 touchdowns, and 17 interceptions while completing 60.2 percent of his passes. He has also rushed for 653 yards and 13 touchdowns.

His best season came in 2019 when he threw for 2,942 yards, 18 touchdowns, and six interceptions while completing 60.9 percent of his passes. He made five starts last season as Tua was sidelined with injuries, and Brissett threw for 1,283 yards, five touchdowns, and four interceptions. He rushed for an additional 228 yards and four touchdowns.

At the end of the day, Brissett was signed to a cheap one-year, $4.5 million deal to back up Watson and potentially start a few games. No matter what the number of games is, if any, Brissett simply has to play well enough to win at least half of those games.