Browns quarterback Brian Hoyer may have lost his biggest benefactor in the organization when owner Jimmy Haslam did his annual shakeup of the front office and fired General Manager Mike Lombardi, but he hasn’t lost his confidence that he can lead the offense in Cleveland.
Hoyer said, via Nate Ulrich of the Akron Beacon Journal, that he “definitely” feels like he’s the team’s starting quarterback heading into the offseason and that he expects to press his case for that job when offseason workouts get underway on April 7. Hoyer has started running as he progresses through rehab for his torn ACL and said that he’s spoken to fellow MSU alum and current Redskins quarterback Kirk Cousins about new offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan.
The Browns aren’t expected to just hand Hoyer the starting job without a competition and Brandon Weeden probably wasn’t going to cut it on that front even before he said he’d rather be part of a different organization. Hoyer said he welcomes the chance to compete and he thinks he’d have an advantage over a draft pick coming in for the job.
That might be the case in terms of NFL experience, but it might also go right out the window if the Browns spend the fourth pick of the draft on a quarterback.