With their rookie minicamp in the rear view mirror and workouts with veterans set to begin, Cleveland Browns first-round pick Brandon Weeden is ready to compete with veterans Colt McCoy and Seneca Wallace for the starting quarterback job, Mary Kay Cabot of The Plain Dealer reports.
"Absolutely, I think we're just going to compete," Weeden said on Sunday. "Nothing will change. I know Colt (is) a good guy. I know Seneca is a good guy. I met Seneca, so I'm looking forward to just being part of the other quarterbacks."
McCoy has started 21 games over the past two seasons, including 13 games in 2011 before missing the final three weeks with a concussion. Wallace started for McCoy at the end of last season and has 21 NFL starts on his resume, which includes six seasons playing for Browns president Mike Holmgren with the Seattle Seahawks.
Head coach Pat Shurmur has stuck to the company line that Weeden will have to earn the starting job this summer, but the club certainly did not spend a first-round pick on the 28-year-old with the thought that he would have to sit behind McCoy or Wallace. The starting job is likely Weeden's to lose, with the main issue being him adjusting to playing under center after operating out of the shotgun in Oklahoma State's spread offense.
Shurmur liked what he saw from Weeden taking snaps from directly under center this weekend, but Nate Ulrich of the Akron Beacon Journal noted a few fumbled exchanges. Weeden suggested those will go away once he's working with Pro Bowl center Alex Mack.
"I feel really comfortable under center," Weeden said. "Every center is different. We've got (Garth) Gerhart -- he is a lefty. And we've got (Jarrod) Shaw -- he is a righty. That is a little bit different, but it's just a feel thing, a comfort thing. When Mack gets here, and I start to take snaps from him, it's going to be different. It's getting comfortable. But I'll be honest, I like being under center more because you can see what's going on and you get the ball immediately. If I had to pick one of the two, not that I don't like being in the shotgun, but I like being under center."
