The Cleveland Browns are desperate to feed the narrative that Brock Osweiler is really a darn good quarterback — not the mediocre, inaccurate gunslinger we all have seen the past two years.
The team released a hilarious and unbelievable hype video recently and then named Osweiler starter for their first preseason game. To nobody’s surprise, Osweiler was awful. In fact, he began his preseason by throwing a Christian Hackenberg special to the right sideline.
https://twitter.com/Time4Texans/status/895861392796000256
All told, Osweiler completed just 6-of-14 passes for 42 yards. That’s just three yards per attempt, which makes Alex Smith look like a deep ball king.
Yes, he did have some near-misses, including a play in which he nearly converted a touchdown pass to Kenny Britt, who couldn’t get both feet in. He also threw high on a number of occasions. But that’s hardly shocking, for those who have watched his tape the past years. Throwing high is what Osweiler does. It’s his specialty.
Quarterback coach David Lee wants us all to know that if those passes had been completed, Osweiler’s stat line would have looked much better.
#Browns QBs coach David Lee explains why Brock Osweiler's preseason debut wasn't as bad as everyone said it was pic.twitter.com/DJqInPTnrj
— Daryl Ruiter (@RuiterWrongFAN) August 13, 2017
It’s easy to understand why the Browns are pushing so hard for Osweiler to be seen as competent. They are desperate to trade him. At least, that’s how this scribe sees it.
Remember, this is the same guy who couldn’t complete 60 percent of his passes, throwing 15 touchdowns and 16 interceptions, despite having a tremendous cast of receivers last year. Heck, he made DeAndre Hopkins look mediocre. That’s very hard to do.
When the Browns traded with the Houston Texans to land a second-round pick in exchange for the quarterback and his ridiculous salary, it was reported all over the place that they’d either cut him or trade him before the season began.
Other teams around the league need quarterbacks in a bad way. So if Hue Jackson, Sashi Brown and Co. can find a sucker, they’ll pounce at the opportunity to land even more draft capital to continue building the roster.
Unfortunately for them, Osweiler is who we all thought he was, and that’s not going to change any time soon.