As with everyone in the Browns organization, rookie quarterback Brandon Weeden has seven weeks to prove himself, before the expected changes begin.
But Weeden, the “other rookie quarterback” in a class including Andrew Luck, Robert Griffin III and Ryan Tannehill, is confident he’s the answer.
“Yeah, absolutely I do. Absolutely I do,” Weeden told the NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport. “If I didn’t I wouldn’t be here and they wouldn’t have taken me in the first round to be their quarterback. Obviously, I have to play well and I have to do things to prove that I’m that guy. But, yeah, I’m confident.
“If you come into this league and you’re passive and you’re not a competitive guy and you don’t want to take the bull by the horns, you probably don’t deserve to be the starting quarterback anyway. My attitude is, I’m going to get better these last seven games. Try to continue to work on things, continue to try to help my team win games and hopefully, everything kinda works out for itself.”
Weeden’s optimism aside, he can’t be certain of anything.
He’s shown moments of competence, but nothing about his game screams “this is the man you have to build around.”
He’s completed 55.1 percent of his passes, with nine touchdowns and 12 picks. He’s also part of a team that’s not 2-7 by accident, putting the future Browns in position for a high draft pick.
One that a new administration might choose to use on another franchise quarterback.