Ranking and grading every quarterback on the Cleveland Browns ahead of training camp

Positional Grade and Evaluation

The Browns’ backups are not good, not at all. With Case Keenum, you had a track record of him going to the playoffs, albeit thanks to a good running game. Still, that didn’t make Keenum a great passer. It just made him a known commodity, like Brissett. Unlike so many other discussions on this team, we know what Jacoby Brissett is, and that’s what’s bothersome. We know Brissett can’t lead a team to the playoffs. We’ve seen him try three other times before.

If he’s forced to carry the Browns long-term, the team’s in trouble.

As for Joshua Dobbs, the Browns have him just for practice, as he plays similar enough to some other NFL players, even though he is nowhere near as talented.

Unlike so many other positions, the Browns’ grade on quarterbacks comes down to Watson. If Watson is healthy, doesn’t lose a step due to his time off, and doesn’t miss most, if not all of 2022, the Browns should be ok. I don’t see the Browns putting up big numbers under Watson, but I think a 3,000-yard, 20 touchdowns, 8 interception season, with a completion percentage of around 65% is the baseline.

That’s taking into effect the Browns’ new playbook, Kevin Stefanski’s bad play-calling and management, lackluster receivers, and a downplayed but still steady focus on the running back positions. It also factors in the decline athletes have when they take significant time off.

Taking time off isn’t the same as being out with an injury. When you’re injured, you’re still active, still working out and you’re still pushing yourself. When you’re just out, for whatever reason, athletes don’t keep the same drive. It happens all the time, in all sports. Guys like Le’Veon Bell, Rob Gronkowski, and heck even Michael Jordan all looked bad after taking more than a year off.

Yet the name that makes the most sense to me when looking at Watson is UFC fighter, Connor McGregor. When McGregor was on top of the world, he was 28 years old. A two-division champion, the biggest draw in the UFC, and arguably the most athletic fighter in two different weight classes. He was a fighting video game character come to life. Then, at 28, he took two years off, fought Floyd Mayweather, came back to the UFC at 30, and got walloped by Khabib Nurmagomedov.

Since his return against Nurmagomedov, and before any major injuries, he was just 1-3 with his lone win being over a long-washed Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone. That time off affected McGregor. He wasn’t the same guy and he didn’t have the same drive. Part of it was he got paid. The other part of it is that he saw himself as too good to be beaten.

Watson has been dramatically defiant during these proceedings, and the man now has a locked-in, guaranteed $230 million contract. He’ll likely miss a majority, if not all of the 2022 season, and if and when he comes back, he’ll have missed two full years, be 28 years old, and be sitting on a pile of cash.

Just like McGregor. The two have more similarities, as both men have been in numerous out-of-competition incidents that have tarnished their names. That’s not something easily shaken off. That stuff ways on you, clearly.

If you’re concerned about the time-off and lack of motivation affecting his gameplay long-term, I don’t blame you. We see this type of scenario play out all the time when guys get mega-deals. Will Watson still have the drive to be good? We’ll find out.

Whenever that is.

This is going to be very interesting because this position will be getting two grades. A raw, pure, facts-driven evaluation as if nothing is going to happen, and a reality-based evaluation based on the assumption that Watson may miss a lot of, all of, or even more than just the 2022 season.

If the Browns have Watson, they have a shot at the playoffs. If they don’t have Watson, well, I’m sure Houston will enjoy having a Top 5 draft pick from us.

Grade with Watson: B+

Grade without Watson: F