The Cleveland Browns started the full-team red zone portion of their Friday joint practice with the Philadelphia Eagles with a pair of touchdown passes from Jacoby Brissett to Amari Cooper, a connection between the team’s undisputed No. 1 wide receiver and its No. 1 quarterback for now.
For the Browns, focusing on the now got easier Thursday when the NFL announced a settlement in the Deshaun Watson suspension appeal process. Watson, the franchise quarterback Cleveland traded for in March, will be suspended for the first 11 games of the season, so Brissett’s promotion that started on the practice field last Sunday will likely extend for the season’s first three months.
Will the Browns ride with Brissett as their starter? Or will they look to acquire Jimmy Garoppolo, who has been medically cleared following offseason shoulder surgery but remains under contract with the San Francisco 49ers despite not being in the team’s plans? So far, we have lots of guessing but no clarity. But with the Watson disciplinary process complete and final cuts a week and half away, we might know sooner than later if the Browns really trust Brissett, who has been a full participant in the offseason program and was chosen last March as the next guy in line while Watson’s fate was decided.
“I have to go out there and prove (myself) every day, right? I am just excited for the opportunity,” Brissett said Friday. “I do not take (this) lightly, obviously. (I’m) just going out there and continuing to be the man that I am, the player that I am and the teammate that I am. And I think all of that stuff kind of takes care of itself. I do not really have to speak on that.”
Both Browns coach Kevin Stefanski and general manager Andrew Berry have expressed confidence in Brissett, but neither fully committed to him when the subject of potentially adding another quarterback was broached in the wake of the Watson ruling. Stefanski’s plan all along was to start working Brissett as the No. 1 quarterback last weekend at these joint practices with the Eagles and continue that next week when the Browns’ itinerary will simulate a regular-season week ahead of the team’s preseason finale on Aug. 27.
Brissett will start that game. Watson won’t play in either of the team’s two final two preseason games, and his suspension will begin Aug. 30 after the Browns cut their roster to the regular-season size of 53. At that point, the Browns will still have about seven practices before the Sept. 11 season opener at Carolina.
The Browns’ offseason started with a trade for Cooper. Six days later, the Browns made their mega-deal for Watson. A day after making that trade, they signed Brissett to be the emergency fill-in and a steady presence in the huddle. In some ways, they’re right on schedule. But the team thought and hoped that Watson would receive a lesser suspension — perhaps four to six games. Now he’s suspended through November.
“We brought in Jacoby (in March) and we feel very good about Jacoby,” Berry said. “We like what we have seen throughout the spring and we have liked what we have seen throughout the summer, so we have a high degree of confidence in him. No different than any other position on the roster, we will continue to evaluate our team over the course of the camp, but we’re really pleased with Jacoby."
That’s not the strongest endorsement from the boss, but endorsements from the locker room have been strong since the spring.