Browns coach Rob Chudzinski did the expected on Monday when he named Brandon Weeden the team’s starting quarterback for Week Six against the Lions this week.
Weeden relieved Brian Hoyer after Hoyer injured his knee against the Bills last Thursday night and guided the ship well enough to bring the Browns their third straight victory. That performance eliminated the need to do much deliberating about the identity of the starter with Hoyer out of the picture, but it hasn’t taken the team totally out of the quarterback market.
Chudzinski also said, via Mary Kay Cabot of the Cleveland Plain Dealer that the Browns are “looking at our options” at quarterback after losing Hoyer for the season. A trade would cost them one or more draft picks, something that would run counter to the direction they moved with the Trent Richardson deal. With Josh Freeman off the market, there’s no free agent that would seem to pose much of a threat to Weeden staying in the starting job.
There isn’t really anyone that seems like an upgrade over Jason Campbell at backup, either, although you can certainly understand why the Browns would want a third man on the scene after injuries to both Weeden and Hoyer in the first five weeks of the season.