As 23ABC’s Camp Week rolls on, we take a look at a team that wasn’t on our radar until they drafted one of Bakersfield’s best products. Cody Kessler and the Cleveland Browns.
In many ways it’s the same old story.
Cody Kessler is again battling for the job of starting quarterback and like he was in college, is still his own worst critic. “I’ve always been a perfectionist so I get a little frustrated when I don’t get it right the first time,” Kessler said to the Cleveland media this weekend.
While Kessler has played on big stages when he was the quarterback at USC, he’s never seen anything quite this big. A chance to lead a franchise and be the face of an NFL rebuild.
He knows to do that he’ll have to impress his coaches with his set of strengths. “I’ve always been more on the mental side of it. Making calls, being smart with it, running the right plays and getting in position but also being very accurate,” he said.
Problem is, right now head coach Hue Jackson has a couple guys like that. “Our quarterback room is a special place right now,” Jackson said Wednesday. “ I like all our guys in there. They’re working extremely hard and I hope they continue to get better.”
Kessler is battling NFL veteran Josh McCown who is rumored to be coveted by the Cowboys as well as the once dynamic Robert Griffin III. The 2011 Heisman Trophy winner says he’s actually been learning from the Bakersfield native.
“To be able to go in with those guys and study, learn the game, see how different guys see the game, I think all of us take a little bit from each other,” Griffin said over the weekend.
While Kessler may not have the legs of RGIII or the experience of McCown, Jackson says he’s still waiting for someone to step up and take the job. “That position, you wear a lot of different hats,” he said. “It’s not just throwing the ball straight. Obviously that’s a really important quality a guy’s got to have but he also has to uplift his teammates and have his teammates come follow him.”
While Jackson has yet to make an official announcement he expects to have his quarterback picked before week one of the preseason when the Browns take on the Packers August 12th.
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