The search for a long-term quarterback in Cleveland has been a long and fitful one for the Browns and it’s going to continue once the team reconvenes for training camp next month.
Cody Kessler, Brock Osweiler and DeShone Kizer are this year’s entrants in this year’s quarterback derby and coach Hue Jackson knows that no one from the trio has solved the need for an “established quarterback” to lead the offense. While the hunt for that quarterback remains in full effect, Jackson feels the team has taken a step forward in other areas this offseason.
“I have to continue to solve the quarterback issue because that is where it starts,” Jackson said, via ESPN.com. “Everywhere else, we are really growing. Not that we are not growing at quarterback but just having a guy, and having a guy and saying, ‘This is the guy and this guy can run our organization, run our team and play at a high level and help us win.’ That is always going to be the question all of you will have until we solve it, so I get that. Outside of that, our team is heading in the right direction.”
The phrasing calls to mind asking Mrs. Lincoln how the rest of the play was, but it’s hardly totally insignificant for the team to be coming together at the other positions on the field. Having a solid roster in place should only make things move more quickly when and if the Browns find the right answer at quarterback and can make life somewhat less painful while the search continues for the right answer at the marquee position.
That doesn’t make Jackson any less right about the magnitude of the need nor does it guarantee that he’ll be the man to find the answer that has proven to be more elusive than any other in the NFL.