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Last week, we heard some rumblings from the media that Brock Osweiler shined compared to the other quarterbacks in the OTA sessions. Head coach Hue Jackson has also noted that he has been a “pleasant surprise.” And now, according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, at least one player on the team is privately predicting that the former Houston Texan will be Cleveland’s No. 1 quarterback on the depth chart by the time training camp rolls around:
Brock Osweiler has impressed. One Browns player privately predicted he "wouldn't be surprised if Brock is QB1 heading into camp in July."
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) June 7, 2017
I’d have to assume that the player Schefter heard from was someone from the 53-man roster a year ago. If one player is thinking it, chances are others are too — and if they are seeing it, one could make the assumption that Jackson is too.
After yesterday’s final OTA session that is open to the public, Jackson was asked about the quarterback rotation heading into minicamp next week and whether he will change it from the current order of Kessler-Osweiler-Kizer-Hogan.
“I could. I could not, too. Again, I think guys are emerging. I think guys are working hard. I think the whole group has improved, but again, I am going to take a look at it after we get done with OTAs and see where we are. I think guys are making strides. I see it all the time, and they have got to continue to work and work hard. The young guys are getting better. Cody (Kessler) has improved. Brock (Osweiler) is doing well. We are going to take it all into account and see where we are.”
Jackson was also asked about the major areas he looks for when judging quarterbacks at this time of the year:
“The accuracy and consistency, running our offense and not turning the ball over. In order to play for us, we cannot turn the ball over. That is one thing that I have stressed, we turned it over way too much. Now, everybody is involved in that, that is not just them. That is an offensive unit issue. We have to solve that, and I think that is something that we are working on.”
It might not be a matter of if the Browns will go to Osweiler, but when. Unless Sashi Brown is running a deep con job, going as far as telling a player to leak information to Schefter, to help increase Osweiler’s trade value if a team were to suffer a key injury at quarterback somewhere.