Jaguars, Browns finally settle on quarterbacks
For one franchise, the choice of their new starting quarterback is both exciting and inspiring. For the other, the choice is the correct one, but it leaves the fanbase with a sense of dread and shame.
Let’s start in Cleveland, where the Browns are giving their constituents hope after almost 20 years of never finding a quarterback with promise. On Wednesday, head coach Hue Jackson announced that the team would go into its third preseason game with rookie DeShone Kizer as the starter, while Brock Osweiler would not see any game action. It’s easy to assume that Cleveland doesn’t want Osweiler to get hurt in the event it can trade him for 10 cents on the dollar.
“I think he’s gotten better each and every week,” Jackson said later Wednesday, per ESPN. “He’s showing the characteristics that I look for in a quarterback.”
Meanwhile, the second-round pick out of Notre Dame gets to have his moment. Kizer has shown immense promise and serious raw spots in the preseason, but Jackson is making the right move. The Golden Domer has a good offensive line in front of him and a Hall of Famer in Joe Thomas protecting his blind side. While the weapons around him are iffy, Kizer has a chance to learn and not get plastered into the turf on every down.
As for the Jaguars, things are not as rosy. Jacksonville spent three years trying to get the best out of Blake Bortles, a player it used a third-overall pick on back in 2014. Bortles was supposed to be the franchise, someone who could finally giving the Jaguars another top quarterback in the way Mark Brunell was in the 1990s. Instead, Bortles became the next Blaine Gabbert, a player with physical attributes but someone who could never find his groove in the NFL.
While having to sit Bortles is unfortunate and an effective waving of the white flag by both the front office and coaching staff, it is even worse to do so for Chad Henne. If Jacksonville was benching Bortles for an exciting, young player, it would be tough but at least the potential start of something good. Instead, Bortles takes a seat for Henne, a 32-year-old journeyman who is not the future and not part of anything fruitful in the present.
Like so many other seasons in Duval County, this one is dead on arrival for a team that desperately needs a reason for fans to fill up EverBank Field.
Two franchises that has done little recently, both turning over a new leaf at quarterback. One is full of energy and life, the other completely drained of it.
