Thursday, January 24, 2013
Give Weeden a shot?
By Tim Kavanagh
In quotes to the media this week, new Cleveland Browns HC Rob Chudzinski seemed lukewarm on incumbent QB Brandon Weeden, while OC Norv Turner was much more optimistic. Sure, Weeden didn't do very well as a rookie, but there is reason for the team to stick with him.
In a post for ESPN Cleveland, Tony Grossi writes that the anti-Weeden sentiment appears to be coming from CEO Joe Banner and GM Michael Lombardi, while the coaches should wait to see what the Oklahoma St. product can do for themselves. After all, Weeden has a strong arm, and Turner has been able to nurture passers with strong arms into great NFL QBs -- Troy Aikman being the best example. More recently, Turner was able to get good production out of Alex Smith (as the Niners' OC) and Philip Rivers (as the Chargers' HC), and letting him have a chance with Weeden would be of mutual benefit: the QB could improve by leaps and bounds, and the team wouldn't have to invest big money (or a high draft pick) on another option right away.
Those on the other side of the debate would argue that at his advanced age, we've already seen what Weeden will be as an NFL QB, and the ceiling doesn't appear to be very high. Having the team go through another season with him as the starting QB would hamper their ability to improve. (Of course, this would give them better draft pick stationing in 2014, but let's not get too far ahead of ourselves).
No matter what, it appears that there will be some form of competition at the position; whether the Browns invest heavily in another option is the unknown.
