How many different Browns starting quarterbacks have there been since 1999? It is truly the saddest question in sports. And with the decision by Hue Jackson to name Kevin Hogan the Week 6 starter over DeShone Kizer, the answer gets a new update, because that number is now at 28.
Twenty-eight! Before we dive into the full Factory of Sadness tour, let's go ahead and look at the details surrounding this change in particular. For one, it is probably the right thing to do for Hue Jackson. Personally I believe this season should be about the development and evaluation of DeShone Kizer to see if he is the "guy" for the Browns.
But Hue also needs to save his job and playing Kizer isn't going to do that. There is also a case to be made, and Hue made it on Wednesday morning, that continuing to play Kizer will have a negative impact on his development.
"I've made the decision to start Kevin this week. We've liked what Kevin has been able to do within our offense when he's been in there and he will start on Sunday because that's what we feel is best for our team at this point in time," Jackson said in a statement released by the team. "This does not change the way we feel about DeShone going forward. He has worked extremely hard and still very much has a bright future. Right now, it's better for him and his development to back up Kevin."
Hogan was a superior quarterback to Kizer in Week 5 against the Jets. He instantly added some downfield offense, throwing a touchdown on his first drive. The Browns lost to the Jets, and did so in pretty terrible fashion, which is a bad look anyway, but a terrible look when the Jets were supposed to meet a destiny of 0-16 this season.
Cleveland is the team more likely to go 0-fer, which would be quite an accomplishment considering they won just a single game last year and spent big in free agency.
Back to the quarterback history. There were already a whopping 26 starting quarterbacks for the Browns since their return to the NFL prior to the 2017 season. Grabbing Kizer in the second round of the 2017 NFL Draft and starting him Week 1 was supposed to change that, or at least shrink the average quarterbacks per year down.
And Hogan has been around for a while and played for the Browns in relief before. He actually led the league in rushing one week last season, which is just the weirdest stat. Now he gets to add "28th Browns Starting Quarterback Since 1999" to his resume. Truly an honor. Those who came before him are:
Tim Couch, Ty Detmer, Doug Pederson, Spergon Wynn, Kelly Holcolmb, Jeff Garcia, Luke McCown, Trent Dilfer, Charlie Frye, Derek Anderson, Brady Quinn, Ken Dorsey, Bruce Gradkowski, Colt McCoy, Jake Delhomme, Seneca Wallace, Brandon Weeden, Thad Lewis, Jason Campbell, Brian Hoyer, Johnny Manziel, Connor Shaw, Josh McCown, Austin Davis, Robert Griffin III, Cody Kessler, DeShone Kizer, Kevin Hogan.
It's quite the list.
Oddly enough before this move, we had pointed out that the Texans had dealt with more turnover at the quarterback position than the Browns since 2014.
Unfortunately for the Browns, that probably won't last, considering Deshaun Watson looks fantastic in Houston and is locked into being the starter for a while. Even more unfortunately for the Browns, they traded out of the No. 12 position in this past year's draft with the Texans so Houston could take Watson.
It's equally exacerbated by the fact that the Browns traded out of the No. 2 spot last year so the Eagles could come up and take Carson Wentz.
Passing on two potential franchise quarterbacks in back-to-back drafts, failing to win games and starting the 28th quarterback since the franchise reboot in 1999 is a good way to keep the cycle of front office and coaching staff resets going.