The Cleveland Browns have been searching far and wide for a long-term franchise quarterback over the last quarter century. With the 2026 team away for the summer break, here at Dawg Pound Daily we’ve decided this is the perfect time to take a stroll down memory lane in an eight-chapter series called Cleveland's Quest for a Quarterback. This is Chapter 5.
To be clear: this exercise isn’t about dunking on the Browns. It’s about getting to the bottom of the seemingly unsolvable riddle that has plagued Cleveland’s proud fan base for far too long. We’re here to answer the questions: When did the Browns flunk the test? And when did the right decision get overshadowed by the football gods’ unrelenting cruelty?
How the Cleveland Browns' bootless quarterback journey truly began
The Browns' 5-11 record in 2009 spelled the end of the sometimes exciting, but mostly futile, Derek Anderson–Brady Quinn era in Cleveland. Second-year head coach Eric Mangini was going to be afforded the opportunity to build his QB room from scratch. There were intriguing options, though history doesn't look favorably upon how any of them worked out.
Among the veterans were Jason Campbell (before he came to Cleveland a few years down the line), Donovan McNabb, and Jake Delhomme. The Browns opted for Delhomme and fellow veteran Seneca Wallace, an experienced if uninspiring duo.
The Colt McCoy era that actually happened
Then, in a weak draft class that only saw two first-round quarterbacks in Sam Bradford and Tim Tebow, the latter of whom was a bullet the Browns somehow avoided despite their magnet for lead, the Browns opted instead for another ballyhooed college quarterback in Colt McCoy. All-time quarterback name aside, there was a reason he was available in the third round. The former Texas Longhorn had questionable tools that few believed would translate to the NFL.
Calling a spade a spade, the Browns did what they could in a terrible situation. The early 2010s were a barren wasteland for teams looking for franchise quarterbacks — about half of the NFL found themselves in a similar predicament. In any case, McCoy went 2-6 as a rookie with a 74.5 passer rating. Still, the jolt of excitement in a depressing 5-11 campaign earned him the nod in 2011, even if the season cost Mangini his job.
If you wanted the perfect microcosm of the dearth of quarterback talent in this time period, look no further than the 2011 NFL Draft. The Browns seemed to gauge the class correctly and stand pat, while massive busts Jake Locker, Blaine Gabbert, and Christian Ponder all went in the top 12.
The Browns don't get a free pass for trading down from pick No. 6 and missing out on Julio Jones, Tyron Smith, and J.J. Watt, nor for selecting Phil Taylor over Cam Jordan and Cam Heyward, but the directive was at least clear. They wanted to stockpile picks for the 2012 draft class in a year they didn't expect to be great. Some might say they were tanking.
In any case, new head coach Pat Shurmur was going into his first year on the job blindfolded with his hands tied behind his back. Would it have been pretty cool for Cleveland to sign free agent Vince Young and watch two Longhorn legends duke it out for the starting role? Sure. Would it have made any difference? Probably not.
The Browns actually started a surprising 3-3 before going 1-9 down the stretch. They never had a real chance at Andrew Luck or Robert Griffin III. They lost their last six games and still couldn't get the top pick. Still, armed with the third overall pick in a rock-solid draft class, the Browns almost couldn't mess this up if they tried.
Drafting a 28-year-old rookie QB in the first round is among the biggest blunders in Cleveland Browns history
Then, Trent Richardson happened. Perhaps the pick would make sense if the Browns were entering the sticky Peyton Manning sweepstakes after the Hall of Famer returned from spinal fusion surgery. Alas, that was never going to happen.
The Browns decided against selecting Texas A&M quarterback Ryan Tannehill, who would forge a solid career in Miami and Tennessee. They also bypassed future Hall of Fame linebacker Luke Kuechly, as well as another player who might join him in Canton someday in cornerback Stephon Gilmore. All for a running back whose career yards-per-carry sits at a blistering 3.3.
That decision would have set the franchise back years if not for the hoodwink of the decade when the Browns were able to recoup a first-round pick by dumping Richardson onto the Colts. Compounding the mistake, however, was the decision to draft Brandon Weeden with the team's second first-round pick (from the 2011 trade down with Atlanta).
See, Weeden was such a stellar athlete that at 19 years old, he was selected in the MLB Draft by the New York Yankees. By 2006, Weeden had quit the diamond and opted for the gridiron instead. This made him a 25-year-old redshirt freshman when he took his first snaps at Oklahoma State in 2008. By the time he finished lighting up teenagers and barely-20-year-olds in college, he was a 28-year-old draft prospect.
Drafting a player that age in the first round is simply lunacy. It's not Weeden's fault that he was drafted where he was, but as the subject of the controversial decision, he's not spared blame. At the bare minimum, he was expected to come in with the experience that would spare him from rookie lumps. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case.
The Browns finished 4-11 in Weeden's rookie starts while Thaddeus Lewis got to close out the season with a Week 17 start (that he lost). It's also worth mentioning that 2012 is when consummate journeyman Josh Johnson made a one-play cameo for the Browns, a play that had Joe Thomas wondering who the heck the quarterback was.
Weeden would get another chance in 2013 under a new head coach, Rob Chudzinski, but the Browns were understandably hedging.
Cleveland could have traded for Carson Palmer of the Oakland Raiders or the San Francisco 49ers' Alex Smith, but why would they? They had Brandon Weeden at home. Instead, they opted to sign Jason Campbell and Brian Hoyer as veteran competition to their 29-year-old sophomore.
Weeden won the starting job but quickly got injured. Then, the legend of Brian Hoyer took hold. Hoyer went 3–0 in his first three starts before the ever-cruel football gods caught wind of happiness in Cleveland. A torn ACL wiped out the rest of his season, as Campbell and Weeden finished out the year going a combined 1-12. Just like that, another QB experiment careened into a brick wall and the Browns were back to square one.
If only there was a highly controversial, volatile quarterback prospect coming out in the 2014 NFL Draft to add some drama to the Browns' doldrums. That would certainly spice things up...
— This series will continue with Chapter 6 on Sunday, July 19. See Chapter 1, "The Right Pick, the Wrong Plan," here.
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