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10 Reasons Browns backup Jacoby Brissett can win it all

By Elliot Kennel

May 25, 2022; Berea, OH, USA; Cleveland Browns quarterback Jacoby Brissett (7) during organized team activities at CrossCountry Mortgage Campus. Mandatory Credit: Ken Blaze-USA TODAY Sports
May 25, 2022; Berea, OH, USA; Cleveland Browns quarterback Jacoby Brissett (7) during organized team activities at CrossCountry Mortgage Campus. Mandatory Credit: Ken Blaze-USA TODAY Sports /
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Everyone knows that the Cleveland Browns can’t win the Super Bowl without a franchise quarterback, so if backup Jacoby Brissett plays for any length of time, is it time to give up on the Browns? After all, isn’t the plan Deshaun Watson or bust?

Perhaps. But maybe there is a Plan B. Could it be that Brissett is not only cheaper than last year’s number two, Case Keenum, but actually better? Brissett is a mobile, strong-armed quarterback who has been a starter in this league and played very well. Put his numbers next to Baker Mayfield’s and compare. Do you want to guess which quarterback has a greater than 2:1 touchdown-to-interception ratio?

History indicates that backups in Brissett’s position can indeed win it all. It doesn’t happen all the time, and no one should imagine that it’s ever easy. Not all Super Bowls were won by famous quarterbacks or even the first-string quarterback. Some started the season as backups and only became famous by winning the biggest game in sports.

Players who entered the preseason as the backup quarterback and became the starter and led the team to the Super Bowl include Roger Staubach, Terry Bradshaw, Jim Plunkett, Doug Williams, Jeff Hostetler, Kurt Warner, Tom Brady, Trent Dilfer, and Nick Foles. That’s nine times.

Earl Morrall gets added to the list because he came into Super Bowl V with his team behind and won the game; plus he started nine games for the 17-0 Miami Dolphins in 1972. Some of the backups went on to win again as starters. Of course, Brady has seven rings. Bradshaw has four rings, Staubach has two, and Plunkett has two. Morrall has three, though the last one was only for special teams. Hostetler has two rings but didn’t contribute in the first one.

So, depending on how you want to count, the backup quarterback won or contributed 11 times in the season he was actually a backup and went back for 11 more rings as a starter.

Former Browns backup Len Dawson won a title

Jan. 11, 1970; New Orleans, LA, USA; FILE PHOTO; Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Len Dawson (16) at the line of scrimmage against the Minnesota Vikings during Super Bowl IV at Tulane Stadium. The Chiefs won the game, 23-9. Mandatory Credit: Dick Raphael-USA TODAY Sports
Jan. 11, 1970; New Orleans, LA, USA; FILE PHOTO; Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Len Dawson (16) at the line of scrimmage against the Minnesota Vikings during Super Bowl IV at Tulane Stadium. The Chiefs won the game, 23-9. Mandatory Credit: Dick Raphael-USA TODAY Sports /

In a way, you could start with Super Bowl I, which featured former Browns backup quarterback Len Dawson, who had become a starter for the Kansas City Chiefs. We won’t count Dawson as a backup quarterback in the Super Bowl, but since Dawg Pound Daily is a Browns-o-centric publication, we will at least mention Len Dawson as an important footnote in Browns team history.

Let’s call Dawson an Honorable Mention, then. Dawson was the Browns’ backup in 1960 and 1961 before jumping to the new American Football League. However, the guy who won the Browns’ first-string job in 1962 was Dr. Frank Ryan, who led the Browns to the World Championship in 1964, two years before the Super Bowl was created, so it’s not like it was a terrible blunder to let Dawson go. Ryan was one of the greatest quarterbacks of his era, but his career was cut short by a shoulder injury.

A case could also be made for Brock Osweiler — yes, the same dude who the Houston Texans hated so much they gave the Browns a second-round draft choice just to assume his contract — because he took away Peyton Manning’s job in mid-season and racked up a 5-2 record the year as a starter the Denver Broncos won the Super Bowl, though Manning was reinstated for the playoffs.

By the way, in the pre-Super Bowl era, Otto Graham wasn’t the starting quarterback in the opening game with the 1946 Cleveland Browns. Cliff Lewis started at quarterback, and Otto played cornerback, just to mention one example of an undrafted backup quarterback who turned out okay.

Definitely, it would be much better to have the first-string guy in there to lead the team to the Super Bowl, but those who are fixated on glamor quarterbacks as the only way to win are just wrong. Put it this way, this is not a prediction that the Browns have a great defense, but if some NFL team does manage to lead the NFL in fewest points allowed, while also leading in rushing yards, that team is going to go deep in the playoffs and could go all the way.

That’s a big if, but relying on players like Myles Garrett, Denzel Ward, Jadeveon Clowney, and Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah is not a bad start.

Let’s consult the historical record before quitting on Jacoby Brissett and the Cleveland Browns as a hopeless combination. We can start with Earl Morrall, the man with three Super Bowl rings.

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