Browns Executive Vice President of Football Operations Sashi Brown told reporters Friday that the Browns see quarterback Robert Griffin III as both a long-term project and potentially a long-term answer to the team’s two decade-long search for a franchise quarterback.
“To be fair to Robert, he’s young in his career in terms of his development as a quarterback,” Brown said. “We will develop him over time. He’s under contract here two years, but we don’t look at it as certainly just a two-year venture or a week-to-week venture. This is something we’re going to have to stick by him, put the right pieces around him and help him learn how to play that position as well. So it’s not a short-term kind of look at him.”
Griffin showing the Browns he can be a franchise-type quarterback would give the Browns, who are stocked with draft picks and cap space over the next two seasons, a chance to accelerate their latest rebuilding project.
The Browns traded last April with their opponent Sunday, the Eagles, to allow the Eagles to move up to No. 2 in the draft and select Carson Wentz. The Browns are going with Griffin, Josh McCown and rookie third-round pick Cody Kessler, who looked anything but ready in the preseason.
Neither the newest Browns nor Wentz are going to be judged on Sunday’s game, but the connection makes for a nice storyline as Wentz starts his career on short notice Sunday.
“I think both sides should be excited (about the trade),” Brown said. “They went out and got a quarterback that was highly touted that has a lot of ability and potential, and we were able to position ourselves to not only get a wide receiver that we covet but also acquire some additional draft picks and build for the future. As I’ve said before, it’s a decision that both franchises have to make.
“I think it was a fair trade, I think it was a good trade for both sides and people love to judge them on the back end. The reality is you have to judge them at the time you have to make the decision and we both felt good.”