Cleveland Browns: Starting Cody Kessler May No Longer Make Sense

Cleveland Browns head coach Hue Jackson pulled quarterback Cody Kessler last week and all it did was send mixed signals all around.

Rookie quarterback Cody Kessler was first thrust into the starting quarterback job for the Cleveland Browns due to injury. However, it was respectable play that kept him in the starting role when healthy. Kessler hasn’t been a revelation, by any means, but he’s been statistically solid. He has completed 66.9 percent of his passes, hold a passer rating of 95.7 and has tossed six touchdowns to one interception.

Pro Football Focus ranks Kessler 20th among 59 quarterbacks who have been rated this season.

Even though Kessler had twice been knocked out of games (once for a shoulder injury, once for concussion), it made sense for the Browns to keep playing the USC product. The Browns have been searching for a franchise quarterback ever since returning to the league as an expansion team in 1999. It seemed there was at least a possibility, however slight, that Kessler might have what it takes to finally solidify the position.

Unfortunately, head coach Hue Jackson may have put an early end to this potential narrative when he pulled Kessler from last week’s game against the Baltimore Ravens.

As has been the case often this season, Kessler was struggling to force the ball down the field against Baltimore, so Jackson pulled him in favor of journeyman Josh McCown. Kessler was 11-of-18 for 91 yards and a touchdown at the time.

“I wasn’t playing musical chairs today. I was trying to give our offense a chance … I took Cody out of the game because I wanted a spark,” Jackson explained, per NFL.com.

“Cody’s going to the be the quarterback next week,” Jackson added. “I’ve never said Cody was the starting quarterback for the rest of the year.”

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Jackson’s willingness to pull Kessler and unwillingness to commit to him suggests that he doesn’t believe the rookie can be the future in his offense. Jackson seems to want a quarterback with the arm strength to stretch the field vertically, and Kessler simply might not be that guy.

“Are you asking do I want to see the ball go down the field more? Yes, I do. It needs to,” Jackson said prior to the Baltimore game, per Mary Kay Cabot of Cleveland.com. “That’s the way we score more points.

Jackson might not be the only person in Cleveland who might be ready to look past Kessler. Browns executive Sashi Brown recently told NFL Media’s Ian Rapoport (h/t NFL Media’s Marc Sessler) that the Browns “do expect” to see injured quarterback Robert Griffin III back on the field before the end of the season.

The only reason the 0-10 Browns could possibly want to see Griffin back on the field is to evaluate his potential in Jackson’s offense. If Cleveland wants to evaluate Griffin more, then there’s a strong chance the team A. doesn’t believe in the upcoming crop of rookie quarterbacks and B. is close to done evaluating Kessler. This may not actually be the case, as Jackson recently softened his dialogue surrounding Kessler.

“Cody has done some good things, too,” Jackson said, per Cabot. “Maybe we’ve been a little too harsh on him that way. He’s made some jumps in some areas.”

Regardless, Jackson has created a lot of uncertainty by pulling Kessler and for failing to commit to him for the rest of the season. We probably wouldn’t even be speculating on Griffin otherwise.

And if Jackson and the rest of Cleveland’s collective brain trust aren’t weighing Kessler as a possible franchise signal-caller, then it doesn’t make sense to be starting him this week against the Pittsburgh Steelers? As someone who believes it is too early to actually give up on Kessler, that’s simply the reality.

Starting McCown would give the Browns a better opportunity to evaluate their young offensive talent than a quarterback who is still adjusting to the pro position. He has the kind of arm strength that Jackson appears to be looking for and he can run the types of plays Jackson wants to run.

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McCown also might give the Browns a better chance to win a game before the regular season comes to a close—the Browns did jump out to big first-half leads in his two starts this season. Of course, this only matters for morale’s sake. 1-15 looks better than 0-16, after all.

Then again, maybe the Browns really are sold on one or more of the quarterbacks headed to the 2017 draft. If so, then playing a guy they really don’t have confidence in may make some crazy sort of sense. None of these options would be especially surprising for the Browns.

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