Osweiler sets sights on starting job
Acquired in salary dump, QB is No. 2 on depth chart.
Brock Osweiler has BEREA — gone from afterthought in an NBA-style salary dump trade to a man aiming to beat out Cody Kessler at quarterback for the Browns.
“Absolutely,” he said after OTAs Wednesday when asked if he expects to be the man against the Steelers Sept. 10. “My expectation is always to start. But once again, that’s not my decision to make. If I came out here and told you guys I wanted to be the backup, I’m in the wrong business.”
Osweiler, acquired in a trade with the Texans that also netted the Browns a 2018 second-round pick, believes Kessler being named the man to beat by coach Hue Jackson is the correct approach — despite the fact Osweiler has won 13 NFL games and Kessler hasn’t won any.
Osweiler was the second man up behind Kessler on Wednesday and ahead of Kevin Hogan and DeShone Kizer in the rotation.
“That’s great,” he said of Kessler getting first crack at the job. “Cody has certainly earned that right. He played in a lot of football games last year. He did a tremendous job for this football team. I’m the new guy on the block. I need to earn my stripes here, if you will. But I can promise you I’m going to work as hard as I possibly can every day, because nobody plays this game to be a backup or to lose football games.”
Despite his disappointing 2016 in Houston, where he clashed with coach Bill O’Brien and was ultimately benched, Osweiler wholeheartedly believes he has what it takes to be a starting QB in the NFL. “Absolutely,” he said. Why? “I think the proof is in the film for the past two years,” he said.
When a reporter suggested that maybe the film from last year contained no such proof, he said, “That’s OK.”
Jackson remains noncommittal about Osweiler and his chances to play. He said he explained Osweiler’s role to him.
“His role is to come here every day, compete, get better, learn our system, fit into our culture and try to make it better than what it has been,” he said. “That’s what he’s done each and every day.”
As for reports of an argument with O’Brien in Texas, Jackson wouldn’t go there. But it had to be bad for the Texans to part with a player who signed a blockbuster four-year, $72 million freeagent deal after his four years in Denver. The deal included $37 million guaranteed overall, including the $21 million the Texans paid him to go 8-6 before getting benched last season.
Osweiler knows the perception of himself here: He was a throw-in in the trade, a conduit for the Browns to acquire a second-round pick next season. He was barely mentioned in the Browns press release heralding the move, and they stressed in the aftermath it was about the pick, not the person.
But when the Browns failed in their attempts to turn around and trade him, even offering to eat a large chunk of Osweiler’s salary, his status grew to the point where he’s currently No. 2 in the rotation and has as good a shot as anyone at winning the starting job, until he doesn’t.
“I don’t really make those decisions as far as what I was in the trade,” Osweiler said. “The facts are I’m here, I’m playing football, I love being a Cleveland Brown, and it’s just been so great to work with Coach Jackson, Coach Lee. I’ve grown so much this spring, especially in OTA Phase Two.”
As for reports of that clash with O’Brien, he said, “I’m not going to go into Houston at all. My sole focus is on the Cleveland Browns. But I’m sure players in Houston if you reached out to them, you can ask them that question.”
He did admit that he was blindsided by the trade.
“In fact, I was on the golf course in Arizona,” he said. “I just finished up a workout. I was lifting, I threw and I went and played some golf. I was standing in a sand trap, and I got a phone call and here we come. This has just been a tremendous experience. The city’s been great. The organization, I can’t say enough great things about it, just how I’ve been welcomed, how we work on a daily basis and how Coach has been coaching me. I absolutely love it.”