Following Thursday night’s game, Browns HC Hue Jackson told reporters that they plan to stick with Cody Kessler as their starting quarterback, even though they benched him in favor of Josh McCown.
“Cody’s still the quarterback,” said Jackson, via Mary Kay Cabot of Cleveland.com. “I took Cody out of the game because I wanted a spark.”
Jackson explained that he made the decision to go with McCown because he felt that they needed a spark on offense.
“I made the switch at quarterback because I felt we needed a spark,” said Jackson. “I didn’t think we were doing some things even in the first half I thought we could do. Nothing against Cody. It’s tough when you’re a young player and you come in, you play a week before and you’ve got to play on a Thursday.”
The Browns, obviously, want to see what Kessler can do with an extended opportunity, given that they used a third-round pick on him early in the year.
Kessler, 23, was taken with the No. 93 overall pick by the Browns back in May. He was an interesting selection for the Browns, considering that they elected to trade out of the No. 2 spot and passed on Carson Wentz.
Kessler signed a four-year contract worth $3,004,788 that included a signing bonus of $664,788 with the Browns.
This season, Kessler has completed 66.9 percent of his passes for 1,241 yards to go along with six touchdowns and an interception over the course of five games. Pro Football Focus has him rated as the No. 19 quarterback out of 33 qualifying players.
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