Brandon Weeden to stay in Cleveland

February 24, 2013   ·   3 Comments

It’s been a tough rookie year for Brandon Weeden. Not only did he have a rough season in 2012, but he also has been the subject for talk all offseason. The rumor out there, well the most prominent one, was that the Browns were ready to deal Weeden away for a draft pick.

But that was flat out speculation, so lets look at what the Browns new leader DID say. In case your wondering, that man is Joe Banner.

“We see potential that we’re going to try  to work with and see what it’s going to develop into,” Banner said at the NFL Combine.

“I think we want to give him the best chance to succeed.  We have a huge vested interest in him being successful.  We think that we’re bringing in coaches that can maximize that.”

That doesn’t exactly like a team willing to part ways with a quarterback who played only 16 games in the NFL. But everyone should know, it’s not in the best interest to trade Weeden no matter what you think of him. Trading him would be a panic, just like the panic we made to draft him under Tom Heckert in the first round. There would be practically no worth in him this offseason, but maybe that will be different next year.

Another reason why Banner wouldn’t want to dump Weeden is simply, who is the best 2013 Draft QB? Because many analysts have boldly stated that Weeden would have been the best quarterback in this years draft, and that probably is filed under a negative connotation.

Mel Kiper threw in his two cents, ”You look at Geno Smith and Matt Barkley and Brandon Weeden. It would have been a tough call. If I’m Cleveland, nobody in this draft is making me say, ‘I have to take this quarterback even though I have Brandon Weeden”.

None of these outlandish Weeden trade rumors hold any truth, though the Browns may bring in a mediocre free agent to compete with Brandon.

Browns fans in 2012 scoffed at how terrible Pat Shurmur was from an offensive point of view, does this not effect the play of Weeden? Shurmur was dealing was a shotgun only QB and sadly let him go shotgun very rarely. In fact, Weeden was #31 in the league in amount of shotgun snaps taken.  Instead Shurmur forced the West Coast onto him, where he did not excel. In the few times Weeden did go shotgun this year he was a MUCH different player.

When you hear that Chudzinski and Turner are ready to transform the Browns offense into a deep vertical threat, what would make you think Weeden wouldn’t fit? Banner knows that he can fit, and that’s why Weeden will be in Cleveland for the 2013 season.

But if Weeden wants the job he will have to earn it.

By Jeremy Crookston