One of the most enormous surprises of the 2013 season was the play of veteran Josh McCown. In fact, McCown’s play was so good while stepping in for an injured Jay Cutler in Chicago that many suggested the Bears were insane to allow Cutler to take his starting role back over when he recovered. In 5 starts, McCown threw for 13 touchdowns, 1 interception and finished the season with a 109.0 QB rating. That was third best in the entire league behind only Nick Foles and Peyton Manning. Prior to that season, the occasional starter and career backup had 37 touchdowns and 44 interceptions in 10 seasons. His best rating in any season was 74.9. And while many viewed that hot stretch as an aberration, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers thought enough of McCown’s play to reward him with a 2 year $10 million contract. McCown went on to finish 1-10 as a starter for the Bucs, throwing for 11 touchdowns and 14 interceptions for a 70.5 QB rating in 2014. He was not retained for the second year of his contract. And yet the Browns thought enough of McCown to give the veteran a 3 year deal worth $14 million this offseason. Now he walks into Cleveland as the clear favorite to start. But should he?
Despite incessant attempts to secure their quarterback of the future, the Browns seems incapable of landing the right guy. Manziel was a disaster last season and spent part of the offseason in rehab, the Brown have already unloaded 2012 1st round pick Brandon Weeden, 2010 pick Colt McCoy is barely holding on to a job in the league, 2007 1st round pick Brady Quinn was a complete disaster, Charlie Frye never amounted to much and Tim Couch is one of the biggest draft busts in history. That’s not to mention the mediocre veterans that have come and gone, whether it be Brian Hoyer, Trent Dilfer, Derek Anderson, Jason Campbell, Jeff Garcia, Jake Delhomme or Seneca Wallace. McCown already feels like the perfect player to pass the torch to in a stint that destined for failure.
The Browns will of course hope McCown can dip back into the fountain of youth and regain the magic that inspired his play in that small sample size of the 2013 season. They’ll do that while ignoring his most recent game film of the past year and historical data that spans a decade. Because that screams loud and clear that while McCown is a good backup to have, he shouldn’t be your full time starter if you’re expecting wins and consistent play.
Currently the roster also carries Johnny Manziel, Thaddeus Lewis and Connor Shaw. And, well, you can blame the Browns for not doing a better job of addressing depth at that position, but you can’t really blame them for starting McCown when you consider the alternatives. Lewis has only seen short amounts of playing time in the carousels that are Cleveland and Buffalo, Shaw looked poor in one start last year as a rookie, and Manziel looked infinitely worse in two. Of course McCown is in Cleveland as a bridge to arriving at the full development of Manziel, but signs are already showing Manziel may never be ready to assume the role of being a starter.
It could very easily be another very long season in Cleveland because of their continued inconsistent quarterback play, and the 2015 offseason may have them either selecting another quarterback early or signing another mediocre journeyman. Either way, McCown will need to surprise us all in a big way again for the Browns to have any chance at making the playoffs.
