If you want to know the direction the Cleveland Browns are trying to go, a good man to ask is Joe Banner.
Banner is the Browns' CEO, a power player in the organization who sits above general manager Michael Lombardi on the Berea, Ohio, food chain.
Knowing that, it matters very much what Banner thinks of Brandon Weeden, who's entering his second season as Browns quarterback. In a recent sitdown with Terry Pluto of The Plain Dealer, Banner explained how the Browns will evaluate Weeden going forward.
"First of all, the coaches are going to do that and all of us involved in personnel and coaching will have a say in that and opinion on that," Banner said. "But really, we have the luxury of having (coach Rob Chudzinski) and (offensive coordinator) Norv (Turner) here in terms of their experience, their knowledge of that position, what they need in that position.
"There can't be two better guys to give a chance for a quarterback to develop under and then evaluate whether that person is going to be able to do what we need."
Banner was asked why the Browns stuck with Weeden, a first-round draft pick made under a prior regime.
"Brandon's got lot of strengths. He fits the scheme we're going to play," Banner said. "Frankly, we rely a lot on Chudz and Norv for their evaluation of what they're looking for, and I believe there's a reasonable chance that this guy has what it takes to do it.
"Giving him the opportunity and I think everybody is excited, people have written and talked about, he's come back here, he's worked hard, he's got a great work ethic about things and he's doing everything he can to be the best he can be."
Weeden is going to get a shot at being the guy, which really is all he could have hoped for considering the circumstances. Had the Browns had better quarterback options in the draft, things might have turned out very differently.
Follow Dan Hanzus on Twitter @DanHanzus.
