The biggest farce of the NFL summer continues unabated.
Incumbent Cleveland Browns quarterback Brandon Weeden has hogged the first-team reps throughout the offseason, into training camp and in the preseason. It came as a shock to the entire football cognoscenti when coach Rob Chudzinski insisted earlier this week that Jason Campbellstill is legitimately in the hunt to be the Browns' starting quarterback.
Surely Chudzinski is ready to dispense with the frivolity and anoint Weeden after last year's first-round draft pick carved up another defense in Thursday's 24-6 victory over the Detroit Lions, right?
Wrong.
Waiving off Weeden's five scoring drives in six preseason possessions, on top of an NFL-leading 139.8 passer rating, Chudzinski doubled down Friday on his mockery of a quarterback battle.
"I'm still going to wait to name a starter," Chudzinski explained, via The Plain Dealer's Mary Kay Cabot. "Go through the process."
The first-year coach has us scratching our heads, trying in vain to remember a quarterback competition that featured one player who received all of the practice reps and preseason starts at the expense of the other.
Weeden appears to be nearly as confounded, offering a theory behind Chudzinski's bizarre public front.
"Competition sells newspapers. I understand that," Weeden said. "I can't control any of it."
We have a different theory. The Browns might as well hang a placard from team headquarters announcing that Weeden and/or Campbell are eminently available in exchange for draft picks.
Every time an NFL insider makes the pilgrimage to Cleveland, he inevitably comes back skeptical that the Browns view Weeden as the solution at quarterback.
If the Browns can't get behind Weeden, is it fair to expect their fanbase to do so?
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