For the Cleveland Browns to take the next step, quarterback Brandon Weeden must improve on his uneven rookie campaign from a season ago. ESPN's Ron Jaworski believes that's about to happen.
Jaws, cycling through his annual quarterback rankings, watched every one of Weeden's throws from 2012 and came away impressed, going so far as to say the 29-year-old passer "will be a rock-solid NFL starter in Norv Turner's offense," per Evan Silva of Rotoworld.
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"For a rookie, Weeden showed uncommon poise and calm in the pocket," said Jaworski, who called Weeden's mechanics "consistently solid" and touted the quarterback's ability to "sit on his back foot and drive the ball with velocity."
It's a surprising assessment. On the surface, Weeden's rookie season was a hot-and-cold affair that showed off his strong arm but exposed his poor decision-making. Jaws has been closely analyzing signal-callers for decades, so his stamp of approval is encouraging for Weeden.
Moving from Pat Shurmur's paint-by-numbers West Coast offense to Turner's aggressive downfield passing attack should help. Weeden is more of a gunslinger-type passer, and new Browns coach Rob Chudzinski has promised to make the most of his quarterback's deep-ball ability. Any one of Weeden's games from last season reveals plenty of negatives to go along with the positives, but Jaws -- along with NFL.com's Bucky Brooks -- believes Weeden will flip the switch in his second NFL season.
Follow Marc Sessler on Twitter @MarcSesslerNFL.