Quarterback Wars - A Browns Story

The year is 1999 and the Cleveland Browns are back baby! After a three-year hiatus from the NFL the team by the lake is back and they are going to have a new quarterback because this Browns team is an expansion team. Long gone are the days of Sipe and Kosar. It feels like it's a distant dream, but the nightmare of losing the Browns still, very much, lives on. With a new QB by the name of Tim Couch, the Browns are ready to announce their presence with fucking authority!!! Or so I thought. What has actually happened can only be described as a movie, but this one is written by M. Night Shyamalan and the twist blows, as usual.

Turns out, Tim wasn't great, but he was also trying to lift a team and a city up by their bootstraps with little to no help because the new Browns were an "expansion" team, that kept all their records and history. Eventually, Kelly Holcomb would take the job from Couch, and this started the War that still rages on to this very day. Pandora's box was opened and all anybody could ask was, "who should be the starting Quarterback for the Browns?"

This isn't all that uncommon of a question for NFL teams to ask though. Every year NFL front offices get together to discuss their QB position. If they have a franchise guy, they figure out who the backups to him will be and if their starter needs more support. If they don't have a franchise guy, they are already deep in preparation to find their "franchise QB".

The Browns and the city of Cleveland needed to find their guy. They needed to find him so bad that they tried everything and more often than any other team in the NFL from 1999 until now. The team I have loved and have rooted for my entire life as a football fan, has had 38 starting Quarterbacks in that time frame. After Couch and Holcomb came Garcia and Dilfer. Then we got Anderson and Quinn, where that same old fight was still raging on.

Who should be the starter? The Browns spent a first-round pick on Brady Quinn, and he was to be the future long-term starter in Cleveland. However, Derek Anderson had found a spark and led the team to the cusp on a playoff berth. What are the Browns going to do?

The answer... stink. They were going to stink. Internal fighting among the front office and players lead to another unraveling. Quinn wasn't very good, and Anderson couldn't recreate the magic he had once shown. It was time to reset and begin the search for a new "franchise quarterback". A cast of characters made appearances. The Gradkowski's, the Delhomme's, the Seneca Wallaces. All with the same ill-fated results. Then a new savior appears in a late season performance from Brian Hoyer. Yes, Brian Hoyer! He was the guy that could lead the Browns to the promised land. He was a Cleveland guy, and St. Ignatius graduate. He clearly loved the team and was trying his damnedest to make Lebron love the Browns again.

Enter Johnny Manziel...

This story has been told so many times at this point that it has become documentaries and has been featured on so many podcasts that I couldn't even begin to count. For those that may not remember I'll paint you a quick picture. Johnny likes to party and doesn't watch film. Johnny is a superstar coming out of college. Johnny gets forced into the lineup when he was not ready, in the slightest. This alienates Johnny and Hoyer. Now we are back to square one and in full on QB Wars! To top it all off the Browns go on the worst 2 year stretch of any team in NFL history following this clusterfuck. 1-31

We are getting closer to present day now though. Surely the Browns QB situation has gotten better. I mean they made the playoffs twice in 4 years. Thats double the amount they did in the previous 20. Surely this problem is solved!

Have you heard of a guy named Baker Mayfield? Number one overall pick, set the rookie touchdown record, and lead the Browns to the playoffs in 2020. Yeah, that guy, the same one that you knew was always going to try to squeeze a pass into an impossible window when the game was on the line and inevitable heartbreak was just around the corner, especially against high quality opponents. However, for what Baker did in his short time here in Cleveland he will be loved by one segment of the fans, while another segment tells you he's trash and tries to prop up the current QB. Who has incredibly pedestrian stats since his arrival to Cleveland. More on that later. Cause we're not done with Baker, the same guy that took us to the playoffs and then proceeded to throw a stupid interception then dislocate his shoulder trying to make the tackle. That chip on his shoulder was always dangerous but now it had cost him his career in Cleveland because the Browns took a big step back due to the QB play being abysmal. It was time for a new QB in Cleveland and Baker wanted out with his trade request, so the Browns make the decision to bring in the PR nightmare, Deshaun Watson.

Deshaun Watson, the latest and greatest of QBs to come to Cleveland aimed to turn around the franchise. Good thing for Watson though is that this team doesn't stink anymore. They are actually really fucking good. So good that in 2023 four different starters won a game for the Browns.

But wait, I thought Cleveland was done with the assembly line of QBs...

We aren't that lucky out here in Cleveland. This jersey says it all.

Because what Watson has done in his time here in Cleveland looks very similar to some other guys I mentioned above. His completion percentage is 59.8, the same as Tim Couch. His yards per game are 184.8, barely edging out Anderson at 181.6. His yards per attempt are 6.5, the exact same as Johnny Manziel's. His interception percentage is where he has far surpassed this group though and is a low 2.6%, good enough for second place amongst starters with over 10 appearances, falling just behind Jacoby Brissett at 1.6%, his replacement during his NFL imposed suspension. Not to be confused with the year HE chose to sit out in Houston.

That brings us to today, the anniversary of Deshaun Watson being traded to Cleveland. On this day, Cleveland gets to celebrate the QB room that is filled with multiple pro-bowlers and a 5000-yard passer with 30 touchdowns in that season. The problem is, they have two pro-bowlers at the position in Deshaun Watson and Tyler Huntley, and the guy that threw for 5k and 30 TDs is Jameis Winston and the projected backup. Make no mistake that Watson is the for sure starter going into next season, as long as his rehab is going well, and he should be based on the talent levels he would be competing against. But he still hasn't been great since he got here. And the Wars are still raging on. Check in any corner of Browns Twitter, there you will find Baker Bros and Watson Warriors at each other's throats about who is better, how much guys are getting paid, and who should be the starter for this team. For a while I was one of those guys and I landed on the Baker side. I'm here to relinquish that position because it doesn't do me any good. Watson is the starter, and I will support him because I want to watch the Browns win, it doesn't mean I like him or condone any of the allegations, it just means I'm fucking tired of watching the same substandard Quarterback play, Watson included. This has to be the year the Quarterback makes this team better and doesn't just ride the coat tails of the defense. Watson needs to step up and prove he's worth the 230 million or the three first round picks sent to Houston to get him. Baker wasn't worth it, nor Manziel, Hoyer, Anderson, Quinn, or Couch. If Watson doesn't prove it this year the QB Wars will rage on here in Cleveland with no end in sight.