First, he was trapped under a flag before ever playing a down in the NFL. Then, he was listed as 129 years of age on the Browns game program, which only served to draw attention to how old Brandon Weeden really is—29, way old for a rookie. Then, Rivals.com couldn't compile his high school stats because, well, he was in high school before computers existed. You may have thought it was the final indignity when future former Vice Presedential candidate Paul Ryan visited Browns practice, for some reason, and praised Colt McCoy for Weeden's play at Oklahoma State. You would have thought wrong.
This week, the Cleveland Plain-Dealer ran a story titled, "Cleveland Browns CEO Joe Banner tells The Plain Dealer that team must determine if Brandon Weeden is the guy":
"It's right to put Brandon on the list of important things we have to figure out and we have seven games left to do that," Banner said. "It's an extremely important question for this organization to get right."
With the Browns 2-7 at the bye, they're likely to end up with a high enough pick to draft a premier quarterback, such as Matt Barkley of USC and Geno Smith of West Virginia, which makes the last final seven games pivotal.
"The only reason I'm leaving the door open is, you could think he's the right answer and a year from now go, "Oh, gee, I thought he was but he isn't,' " Banner said. "So it's not like you're etching it in stone, but you certainly have to at least for your next off-season plan, make a determination as to whether in two years from now, when we're trying to be a championship-caliber team, is he good enough to lead us there?"
Banner said Weeden's age — he'll be 30 in their first full season — isn't as much a factor as his ability.
"In a perfect world he isn't 30, but you've got to deal with reality," Banner said. "It's not a yes or no because of his age, it's a yes or no because of how good he is or how good he's going to become."
"In a perfect world, we wouldn't have drafted a 29-year old quarterback. Heck, in a perfect world, we'd be better all over the field," Banner continued. "Frankly, in a perfect world, I'd be working for a different organization in another city, talking to better a newspaper, about something more interesting. Anyway, fuck Brandon Weeden," said Brandon Weeden's boss.
If that wasn't enough, here's another thing Weeden can talk to his therapist about: Rick sends in this e-mail from the Browns to their fans, which puts Charlie Frye where the picture of Brandon Weeden is supposed to go, above the headline, "Brandon Weeden: Cleveland Browns' losses taking toll." The Browns not only need to figure out whether Weeden is the guy, but which guy Weeden is, exactly. They don't have much time—he'll be retired soon.