Brandon Weeden could point to injury as the reason why Brian Hoyer was starting ahead of him a few weeks ago, but there’s no such excuse at the ready this time around.
Jason Campbell will start at quarterback for the Browns this Sunday because the team no longer wants to send Weeden out there with the first-team offense. Halfway through his second NFL season, Weeden is a backup and there doesn’t appear to be much of a future for him with a new regime in Cleveland that didn’t select him in the first round and has shown no affinity for his abilities.
Despite that, Weeden said Friday that he wants to remain in Cleveland with a team he believes “is on the rise.” Weeden knows that’s out of his control, but hopes that he hasn’t had his last hurrah in a Browns uniform.
“I hope I get another shot,” Weeden said Friday, via Mary Kay Cabot of the Cleveland Plain Dealer. “I hope [it’s here]. I’m champing at the bit. You never know. This league is crazy. Whether it’s this Sunday, four Sundays down the road or at the end of December, I’ll be ready.”
Weeden said he still had confidence in his ability to be an NFL quarterback and took full responsibility for the poor play that led him to the bench. The accountability is nice but that poor play makes it hard to imagine that there’s going to be much of a trade market for a player who seems destined for the scrap heap when the season comes to an end, but perhaps there’s a team that wants to jump the line for a shot at Weeden now so they can hold onto him into the future.