Brandon Weeden will be given a shot to prove his detractors wrong this season. If he fails, it's hard to imagine the Cleveland Browns going down this road again in 2014.
CBSSports.com's Jason La Canfora spent Friday at Browns practice and notes that Weeden got off to a rough start, "with passes sailing wide and some balls getting knocked down at the line of scrimmage."
The Browns have put their support behind Weeden this offseason, and some see a bright future. Still, he turns 30 in October on a roster stocked with young players. Browns CEO Joe Banner inherited Weeden and general manager Mike Lombardi widely panned the quarterback as an analyst for NFL Network.
La Canfora, who was an NFL Network colleague of Lombardi's, wrote: "I'd be fairly stunned if the Browns are not very active in the quarterback department in the draft."
Weeden has held off backups Jason Campbell and Brian Hoyer, but new coordinator Norv Turner admitted this week that the Browns have looked a little ragged on offense, according to The Plain Dealer.
"We've had a lot of mixed results and more inconsistencies than I'd like, but that doesn't surprise me," Turner said. "However, we do need to have that sense of urgency that this thing's going to be on us real fast."
Turner doesn't expect Weeden to lose the job in preseason, saying, "I don't envision that happening because of the way he's playing, but we've got to go play. That's a question more for (coach Rob Chudzinski) than for me, but I think everyone in that locker room understands that we're committed to playing the guys that give us the best chance to win. Until a guy has started and played at a high level and won, there's always going to be competition."
SI's Peter King isn't sold: "Is Brandon Weeden going to be a good quarterback this year and can he be the long-term answer? I'm very skeptical about that. He's a great guy, he's got some great ability to throw the ball downfield. I question whether he can be accurate enough to be this team's quarterback for both this year and the long haul. But he is on trial. He's going to get a chance to prove to this administration that he deserves to be the quarterback long-term."
Weeden needs to be a different player this season. His league-leading 24 tipped or batted passes from 2012 don't make sense for a player who stands 6-foot-4. The accuracy and pocket presence must increase; the drive-killing picks must decrease.
Turner and Chudzinski are two of the better teachers Weeden could ask for, but the student, who turns 30 in October, is under pressure to prove -- to a bunch of people who didn't draft him -- that Cleveland should again ignore the quarterback position in April. Barring an on-the-field sea change from Weeden, that isn't likely.
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