Read-Option, Play Action, Hue Jackson, and the Browns

With the injuries to Joe Flacco and Ryan Tannehill, Brock Osweiler is again in play as potential trade bait.

Options for the Fins and Ratbirds include Kaperdick and Cutler.  People need to stop bringing up Peyton Manning (please just stop it).  Romo is an extreme longshot too.

Nobody will pay Brock 16 million, of course.  The compensation wouldn't be higher than a conditional 6th round pick, and his salary would be around 3 million (with the Browns paying the 13 mil balance).

If you're scoffing at this, there is something wrong with you.  At 16 million, Osweiler is a joke. At 3 million, he is a bargain.

He hasn't looked great in camp so far, but hasn't looked too bad, either.  Other teams are paying attention.

Reports of Cody Kessler's demise are greatly exaggerated.

Understand that NFL Radio and other national sources regard Deshone Kizer PR rep Mary Kay Cabbot as their "go-to" source on the Browns.  When Mary Kay writes something, it's magnified exponentially through repetition.

This is Intro to Propaganda 102, by the way.

In the Browns most recent practice, Kizer did outperform Kessler.  True.

But Mary Kay said he has been outperforming him throughout camp.  Delusional.

Per Number Fire, Kessler was the best quarterback in the NFL on crossing patterns, and as I've already mentioned, completed eighty percent of his passing attempts against pressure.

(By the way, the Number Fire article has a lot to say about Rodney Brittfield).

Is Kizer closing the gap?  Of course he is!  He's a rookie!  And his own most recent stats from college were putrid by comparison.  The original gap was HUGE, and there still is one.

Why does Mary Kay say this stuff?  Well, because Kizer throws those thrilling, beautiful deep passes!  Ooh!  Ahh!

Mary Kay might also point out to you that Kessler is short, and ranked 27th in yards per-attempt.  This was not because of his arm, however.  This was because he became a check-down Charlie.  It was about decision-making, and not a fictionalized physical limitation.

Look at Hue Jackson's face, and read/hear the frustration in his responses, when Mary Kay asks him about each and every batted Kessler pass and touch-sack.  Read his words, as he keeps saying, over and over again "but the other guys (Kessler) did some good things too".  He's sick of Mary Kay's campaigning for Kizer.

That being said, DeShone Kizer is improving, and more objective observers are greatly encouraged.

Kizer also has an edge over everybody else except Kevin Hogan:  The read-option.  Another advantage he has is his exceptional ability to execute play-action passes.

Both of these edges fit a run-heavy offense perfectly.  When these guys are on the field, they run a somewhat different offense than Kessler and Osweiler do.

This is classic Hue Jackson, adapting to his players (each in turn).

So despite the fact that Cody Kessler remains the best quarterback on this roster, the chances of Kizer overtaking him by game one are a lot better than I had thought.

I hadn't expected Hue to tweak things as much as he has for Kizer.  I expected him to keep forcing Kizer to work on the things he sucked at, and run the same plays as Kessler.

And check out Kevin Hogan's unofficial passing stats! 10 of 15!?

I remember how Chris Palmer helped destroy Tim Couch's career by refusing to let him do any of what he did best in college.  He kept him under center and in the pocket behind an expansion team offensive line, with little help from the skill players.

Couch did adapt, with impressive speed, and was an above average quarterback as a rookie.  But even after he had proven he was a viable pocket passer, Palmer refused to let him take more shotgun snaps or roll out.

Couch's chronic tendinitis led to a chain-reaction destruction of his right elbow and shoulder, but Chis Palmer's blockheaded rigitity got him pounded to mush.

Hue seems to be quite different.  He's making Kizer do the hard stuff, but also letting him do some of what he naturally does best, even this early.

I now give Deshone Kizer a shot at starting game one (and the Browns running a different offense than they ran last season), and also of Kevin Hogan (who fits this new offense perfectly) hanging around as the third quarterback.

I know this would make Mary Kay correct, but don't care.  I figured it out.  She tripped over it.

But Mary Kay?  66% completions (Kessler) is good.  52% completions (your client) sucks.  And for all his pretty passes, Deshone was 5 for 12.

First.  Downs.  MATTER.