Player Spotlight:

Brandon Weeden

          The Cleveland Browns hit the reset button yet again this last offseason when they drafted Trent Richardson with the 3rd overall selection in the 2012 NFL Draft and Quarterback Brandon Weeden from Oklahoma State with the 22nd selection. They later added Josh Gordon, a wide receiver from Baylor in the suplemental draft. Weeden was received in Cleveland with cautious optimism. That is to say, while the fans were excited, they'd been through some dissapointments in the past and hesitated to fully embrace him immediately. 

           Weeden is not your typical NFL Rookie QB; He's already 29 years old. While it's not his first go round in the world of professional sports (He is a former pitcher for the New York Yankees) it's his first year in the NFL. The general expectation on Weeden is higher than that of many rookies given his age, though it's unfair to assume that it gives him any advantage. Weeden preformed very well in his years at OKST, defeating both Robert Griffin III and Andrew Luck his senior year. 

           Going in to week 16 of the 2012-2013 NFL Season, The Cleveland Browns are 5-9 and yet, there is an optimism in Cleveland surrounding the Browns that could only compare to the Browns return in 1999 and for Brandon Weeden, this season has been somewhat of a roller coaster. The Browns begun the season 0-5 and for Weeden in particular, the beginning of the season was rough. In his first NFL game, the Philadelphia Eagles picked him off 4 times and didn't allow him a single touchdown pass.Over the next four weeks, he threw 5 more picks, one in particular that cost the Browns a close game against the Baltimore Ravens.

            Week 6 came for the Browns, and they were hungry for their first victory. In the week 6 match up against the Cincinnati Bengals, Brandon Weeden had one of his finest performances of the season throwing for 231 yards, 2 TD's and only 1 INT. Over the next several weeks, Weeden continued his improvement, making better decisions with the football and developing solid connections with fellow rookie John Gordon and second year player Jordan Cameron. Since the first victory over the Bengals, Weeden has thrown 7 touchdown passes and 7 interceptions. Not exactly stellar, but he's shown improvement in many areas. His poise in the pocket has improved over the course of the season and his field vision has undoubtedly improved as well. He's finding open targets and in most cases, throwing accurate passes. His issues mostly consist of forced plays. Often times, Weedens aggressiveness leads to turnovers. Rather than throwing the ball away when the play has broken down, he will force passes into double and even triple coverages. In the NFL, plays will come and go and sometimes, you simply must live to play another down.While Weeden has made some noticeable improvements since his first start, he will need to continue to work and improve not only his passes but his decision making and leadership.

             As the season winds down to its final two weeks, lets take an overall look at Weeden's stats and compare his first year (though not yet complete) with some other Browns QB's of recent years:

• 14 TD / 17 INT
• 3,281 Passing Yards
• 285 Completions
• 6.59 Avg yards per completion
• 72.4 Passer Rating

             How does Weeden's rookie season stack up with some other notable Browns QB's? First let's take a look back at the most recent, Colt Mccoy. Mccoy was drafted out of Texas and has the most wins of any college QB in history. His stint as the Browns QB was marred by inconsistency and injuries. 2011 was Colt's only season in which he played more than 8 games (he finished with 13) so we'll compare his 2011 stats to Weedens current numbers.

Colt Mccoy

• 14 TD / 11 INT
• 2,733 Passing Yards         
• 265 Completions
• 5.90 Avg Yards per Completion 
• 74.6 Passer rating

            Now lets take a look at how Weeden's numbers stack up with former Browns QB Derek Anderson. In 2007, Anderson led the Browns to a 10-6 record, one of their best seasons since the teams return to Cleveland. Anderson played in 16 games that season.

Derek Anderson

• 29 TD / 18 INT
• 3,787 Passing Yards
• 298 Completions
• 7.19 Avg Yards per Completion
• 82.5 Passer Rating

          

            Finally, lets put Weeden's stats up against the former 1st overall pick Tim Couch. In Couch's rookie year, he played 15 games only2 of which were victories.

Tim Couch

• 15 TD / 13 INT
• 2,447 Passing Yards
• 223 Completions
• 6.13 Avg Yards per Completion
• 73.2 Passer Rating

           So where does this leave Brandon Weeden going into the final two games? It means he's got something to prove. If he wants to show that he's really the QB of the future for the Cleveland Browns, he's got to come out strong in his final 2 performances against the Denver Broncos and Pittsburgh Steelers. Brown's fans possess the same cautious optimism about the rookie QB as they did when the Browns selected him and with new owner Jimmy Haslam making his "evaluations" at every position of the organization, Weeden needs to take the caution out of that equation.