For a team that has given only one quarterback playing time with the starting offense this summer, the Browns are awfully reticent about confirming that quarterback is their starter.
Brandon Weeden has taken all the reps with the first team in practice and started both preseason games, leading five scoring drives in six possessions during his time on the field, but that’s still not enough to convince coach Rob Chudzinski to publicly label him as the team’s quarterback. Chudzinski said Friday that Weeden’s competition with Jason Campbell, which he termed “close” earlier this week, is still raging.
“I’m still going to wait to name a starter. Go through the process,” Chudzinski said, via Mary Kay Cabot of the Cleveland Plain Dealer.
Chudzinski’s stance would seem a bit more reasonable if going through the process included work with the first team for Campbell. As long as Weeden takes all the work with the starters, there’s no way to evaluate which player is better at running the offense and there’s no way to see this as a competition without air quotes around the word competition.
Holding off on an announcement to make sure Weeden avoids complacency is all well and good, but we have to question how effective a strategy it is when it is the middle of August and only one guy has been treated as a possible starter.