Brandon Weeden knows he can’t look over his shoulder. Jason Campbell apparently plans to force him to.
Steve Doerschuk of the Canton Repository reports that Campbell displayed “Roethlisberger-like size” during offseason workouts this week.
“He’s clearly bigger than Brandon Weeden,” Doerschuk writes of Campbell. “He made Thaddeus Lewis look like a shrimp.”
And while Weeden officially is the starting quarterback, Campbell got the first crack in 11-on-11 drills during the first segment of full-squad practices. Doerschuk praised Campbell’s performance; if the powers-that-be made the same observations, it’s hard not to wonder whether the presumed pecking order will soon become an open competition.
Campbell would have no complaints about that. His $1.5 million salary for 2013 expands by $150,000 if he take 50 percent of the snaps in 2013, $350,000 if the number goes to 65 percent, and $600,000 if he takes 80 percent of the snaps.
He also will see his 2014 salary increase based on 2013 playing time; if he takes 65 percent of more of the snaps his $2 million salary for next season becomes $4 million.
The former first-round pick of the Redskins has a long way to go before he takes any of the snaps in 2013, but with the new regime in Cleveland inheriting Weeden and adding Campbell early in free agency, Campbell may have more of a shot than anyone realizes.