Jackson: Kessler is No. 1 quarterback
Second-year player needs to be beaten out for top job.
Cody Kessler is the BEREA — man to beat in an open quarterback competition “and they’ve got to take it from him,” Browns coach Hue Jackson said Saturday.
He said Kessler will be his starting quarterback in organized team activities and that Brock Osweiler, Kevin Hogan and rookie DeShone Kizer will have to beat him out.
“Obviously Cody will start this out,” said Jackson. “He deserves the opportunity to.”
He stressed that “this thing’s open, it really is” but that it’s Kessler’s job to lose.
He said the starter for the mandatory minicamp in June will be determined when the time comes, but for now, it’s Kessler’s job.
“Cody has done a great job and that’s the reason why I brought his name up first,” said Jackson. “He’s really improved, he’s worked his tail off and he deserves the right and the opportunity to walk in this building and walk out there first. And they’ve got to take it from him. You know, they better take it from him because I know him and he’s not going to give it up.
“So it’ll be fun. That’s what competition’s all about. So until someone takes something from someone and shows that they can do it at a high level play in and play out, we’ve got to keep going in the direction we’re traveling.”
Jackson noted that “they’ll all get reps. Brock is here and Kevin, too. But this young man (Kizer) is going to get reps. The only way he’s going to get better is to get reps, so I’ll find a way. I’ve been through this before a few times. So we’ll get these guys reps, and he has to take some, ’cause I’ve got to continue to evaluate him.”
Jackson said Osweiler, acquired in a trade with the Texans during the free agency frenzy largely so the Browns could add a extra second-round pick, has a chance to compete just like the others.
“He’s here, and as I said from the beginning, if a guy’s in our locker room we’re going to treat him like any of our other players,” said Jackson.
Hall-of-fame advice:
Former Buffalo Bills pass rusher Bruce Smith, a Hall of Famer, showed up at Myles Garrett’s door in Texas and rained a little on his draft day party when the two sat down and watched some film of Garrett.
“He said I was slow off the ball,” Garrett said Saturday on the second day of rookie minicamp. Garrett’s reaction? “I kind of laughed a little bit,” he said. “Most people wouldn’t say that, but he’s one of the greatest if not the greatest pass-rushers, so if he thinks so, and I want to be at this level someday, then I’ve got to take his advice — and run with it.”
Garrett, the No. 1 overall pick out of Texas A&M who’s been described as a generational pass-rusher with freakish athletic ability, took the advice to heart and began working on it right away.
“That’s coming from the very best and he’s just trying to teach me the tricks that I can get off the ball faster and I can do it even better,” he said. “If I learn that and just keep on practicing that, I’ll perform at a high level.”