The Browns have a new owner. And as truck-stop magnate Jimmy Haslam tries to get his arms around the football business, he’s got a big decision to make — even if he doesn’t realize how big of a decision it is.
Quarterback
Colt McCoy has lost the competition for the team’s starting job. He previously said he had been promised a chance to compete with rookie
Brandon Weeden. McCoy now says, publicly, that
there was no competition.
McCoy’s agenda is now clear. He wants out. And since there are no Super Bowl trophies to drag around from the bumper of his car, McCoy is relegated to trying to talk his way out of town.
The problem is that team president Mike Holmgren’s head is sufficiently hard to keep McCoy around, if only to prove who’s in charge.
Haslam now needs to show that
he’s the guy in charge.
Keeping McCoy, as we’ve said since Weeden was drafted, would be a mistake. If Weeden struggles, McCoy will become the most popular guy in Cleveland. And if Weeden gets dinged up and McCoy gets a chance to play and plays well, the Browns could have another
Derek Anderson/
Brady Quinn clusterfudge on their hands.
So the Browns need to go with
Seneca Wallace as the backup, get what they can for McCoy, and move on. Even if they can’t get anything for McCoy, the Browns need to move on.
Former owner Randy Lerner didn’t want the sale of the team to be a distraction. Why let the backup quarterback become one? The decision to use the 22nd overall pick on Weeden necessarily closed the book on McCoy in Cleveland.
