Cody Kessler will start Browns training camp with first team offense

His approach makes sense, so it’s pretty strange Hue Jackson needs to continue to explain himself in his approach to the Cleveland Browns quarterback competition.

Speaking Wednesday before the start of Browns training camp, Jackson confirmed, again, what he’s more or less already said, and what we’ve believed all along.

“I think, like I said, Cody’s going to walk out there first. DeShone’s going to get reps. Brock’s going to get reps,” Jackson said, during a Wednesday press conference broadcast on the Browns’ official Twitter page. “I think that’s all going to play out as we go through training camp.

“This is a competition; someone has to walk out there first. He’s still the guy who... knows the offense best.”

There’s not a lot else to say at this point. Jackson has stayed firm in his commitment to running a competition between not just all three of the presumed contenders, but he also continues to mention Kevin Hogan as being involved. Although Hogan’s not going to make the roster, Jackson could continue to groom him and place him on the team’s practice squad.

That leaves Kessler, veteran Brock Osweiler, and rookie DeShone Kizer in the running for the team’s long-standing starting quarterback vacancy.

Kessler has the experience, albeit just eight games, in Jackson’s offense and is the logical first man up in this competition. Osweiler and Kizer have more of the traits we believe the coach prefers in his quarterback, but both have concerns. Kizer is a rookie and has some mechanical consistency issues that contributed to a drop in his accuracy and overall play last season at Notre Dame. And Osweiler was less than impressive after the Houston Texans tabbed him as their signal-caller of the future.

Don’t be surprised to see the order, quality – with starters or backups – and volume of the group’s repetitions change frequently as the competition progresses. Jackson mixed those things up during summer practices, and he’ll probably continue those shake-ups to give each guy a puncher’s chance at the job.

Here’s the video of Jackson and Brown’s press conference in its entirety.