It may be too late for the Cleveland Browns to trade for a starter to replace Deshaun Watson

The Cleveland Browns could trade for another quarterback but it’s not likely they’ll be a winner if they do.

There’s a lot of chatter going around about the Cleveland Browns trading for another quarterback to fill in for Deshaun Watson in 2022. To be clear, this is fan chatter and not league chatter. A lot of fans are pushing for Jimmy Garoppolo who is just, not a good quarterback, and the fact so many want him in Cleveland is really concerning. Clearly, a lot of fans skipped out on the early evening slate of games during his tenure in San Francisco.

So why has there been buzz around trading for Garoppolo? Well, sadly, the reports around camp have been largely about how bad Jacoby Brissett has looked. Even if Watson has fallen off some from taking a year off, if he’s still athletic, he can still make plays. Like Lamar Jackson and Josh Allen, Watson’s mobility is his greatest asset.

Brissett is a very rigid player and doesn’t have the same shiftiness in his movement as Watson does, so if his balls look bad, he’s not going to produce. And according to those at camp, his passes have not looked good.

The problem boils down to the fact that even if the Browns were to trade to replace Brissett, who will likely replace Watson for the season once the NFL passes down their revised suspension, it’s too late to get a quarterback up to speed.

Keep in mind that Baker Mayfield was traded to Carolina to start July, and it’s taken him weeks to now look good in the offense. Over the last few days, the folks around the Panthers are raving about his performances, but it’s taken him that long to get acclimated to the offense.

That means that whoever comes in has four weeks to get ready before the regular season starts on Sep. 11. That’s just not enough time to get him ready for the start of the year, and then you have to realize it’ll take another four-to-six weeks to get acclimated to the barest bones of the offense.

The Cleveland Browns would be battling history if they tried to trade for another starter now

Brissett could be good in this offense. He won’t be great but he could be what Sam Darnold was for the Panthers for the first three games of 2021, which isn’t great. Brissett doesn’t push the action, much akin to Darnold or Case Keenum, so if you’re playing with a lead, he’ll be fine.

If you’re trying to mount a comeback, then you’re screwed.

The Browns knew what Brissett was when they got him, he’s not a starting caliber quarterback. He can spot you a few games, but he’s not a full-time starter. We all knew this, the reports of him looking bad in camp shouldn’t have surprised anyone.

At this point though, the Browns are better off running with him or seeing if Josh Rosen is more capable. Historically, teams who trade for a quarterback this late in the process don’t win games.

In fact, there is only one who has ever led his team to the playoffs, while throwing for more than 2,000 yards and that’s Bobby Layne.

When teams like the Steelers, Patriots, and Colts lost their quarterbacks, they went with the backups, they didn’t try to trade for someone else. When teams have traded for guys, like the Raiders and Carson Palmer and the Vikings and Sam Bradford, the team didn’t win.

For Browns fans, it’s Brissett or Rosen at this point, maybe even Joshua Dobbs. Sure, the Browns could buck the trend, and replace their starter early in the year with a brand new player, but they’d be better off signing Cam Newton at that point. You really don’t want to have to justify why you gave up valuable draft picks for a player who won’t get you to the playoffs.

Just sign a guy, save the draft pick, and ready yourself for the blame of a losing season, because Brissett isn’t as good as a banged-up Mayfield, let alone a healthy one, so the people who think an offense with no bite will get us to the playoffs need to re-think their plans for January.