Browns’ 2017 starting QB might already be on roster

INDIANAPOLIS >> Rest assured, the Browns are almost as obsessed with their quarterback situation as fans who follow them.

“Anytime you don’t have your starting quarterback, there should always be an urgency,” Browns executive vice president of football operations Sashi Brown said March 1 at the NFL Scouting Combine.

Brown would not comment on quarterbacks currently on an NFL roster — translation, Jimmy Garoppolo of the Patriots and Tyrod Taylor of the Buffalo Bills — and he would not comment on any quarterback in the draft, other than to say he is not concerned about how tall Mitch Trubisky will measure. Skeptics expect Trubisky might be an inch or even two inches shorter than his program height of 6-foot-3.

“Ask (Saints 6-foot quarterback) Drew Brees,” Brown said. “Probably not that important in the grand scheme. If he can play, he can play. (Seahawks quarterback) Russell Wilson and others have been under what has been the standard NFL profile. So we want to understand certainly that piece of it. It’s an aspect of what we’ll look at and it does help to be able to see over the taller offensive linemen. But that’s not going to necessarily on its own disqualify a guy.”

Brown says he has a ranking

for Trubisky of Mentor High School and North Carolina, Deshaun Watson of Clemson and DeShone Kizer of Notre Dame, but he won’t say which quarterback he likes best. He didn’t want to answer when asked if a “franchise quarterback” is in the 2017 draft, which begins April 27.

The Browns pick first and 12th in the first round. They have two picks in the second round — 33 and 52 overall — and a total of 11 picks. They have plenty of ammo to make a trade. But whether they can find a trade partner is a mystery.

Garoppolo and has been linked to the Browns in trade rumors since midway through the 2016 season, but Adam Schefter of ESPN on March 1 reported the Patriots will not trade the 25-yearold backup to Tom Brady.

The Bills are still mulling a decision on Taylor, who is due a $15.5 million roster bonus on March 11. Taylor’s contract calls for $12 million in 2017. The Bills can keep him, cut him or trade him.

Speaking at the Combine, Bills coach Sean McDermott said the decision could go down to the wire.

The agents for 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick sent letters to all 32 team saying the San Francisco quarterback will opt out of his contract, according to the NFL Network, but the Browns are not interested, a source said.

The good news for the Browns is the draft begins 49 days after the start of free agency on March 9, the first day trades can begin. Brown will have seven weeks to plot a strategy.

“I think because chronologically they’re so separated … we’ll have a pretty good idea of what’s available in free agency and have plenty of time to adjust and understand what’s available in the draft,” Brown said. “We really do view the offseason as a continuum of opportunities. So we go into the Senior Bowl hoping to have a great understanding of where we are in each of those phases of opportunities, particularly at quarterback because it’s a point of emphasis for us as we try to find and establish our starting quarterback for long term.”

The cold truth is even if the Browns draft a quarterback, the starter might

already be on the roster, Brown admitted. He said he would be content going into the season with Robert Griffin III, Cody Kessler and Kevin Hogan.

“That could be the reality that we’re faced with, so it’s something that you have to prepare for,” Brown said. “It doesn’t mean that it’s an aiming point on our target. And I’d leave it at that. But we do like having Cody and the work they’ve put in. Robert’s come in and obviously had a tough year with the durability and the injury early.

“But the reality is those are three guys on our roster and we’ll continue to develop and work with them. It doesn’t mean that’s necessarily our aiming point. We want one of those guys to develop and establish themselves as a good quality long-term starter for us that can win a lot of games. But I think each of them would have a way to go to establish himself that way. It doesn’t mean that you give up on him.”

Kessler was 0-8 as a rookie starter last year. Griffin was 1-4. Josh McCown, released last month, was 0-3.