Jacoby Brissett’s time as the Browns’ starting quarterback is all but over with Deshaun Watson’s likely return in Week 13. The journeymen quarterback will be looking for a new team next year, but after his accomplishments this season, he has proven he deserves a long-term starting spot in the NFL.
In 11 games for the Browns, Brissett has led the franchise to a 4–7 record, but don’t let the lowly clip deceive you. The 29-year-old has performed admirably in his first year with Cleveland and is coming off his second game-winning drive of the year after defeating the Tom Brady-led Buccaneers on Sunday. This all comes after a career of being thrown to the wayside.
Brissett was drafted in the third round of the 2016 NFL draft by the Patriots to be Brady’s backup as a rookie and then moved on to the Colts to back up Andrew Luck. He ended up taking over the team in ’19 when Luck retired but lost the job in ’20 when Indianapolis signed Phillip Rivers. Finally, he signed with the Dolphins in ’21 to serve as a backup behind Tua Tagovailoa.
Now Cleveland. Appointed as the starter while Watson serves his 11-game suspension for sexual misconduct, Brissett proved to be the NFL’s ultimate lost toy, doing what he could on a team that was never going to keep him. Amid all the drama, the 29-year-old most likely finishes 2022 with 2,608 passing yards and 14 total touchdowns to six interceptions in his 11 starts. His locker room presence has also become apparent as well. After Sunday’s win, Browns coach Kevin Stefanski went as far as to call Brissett a “Hall of Fame teammate.”
“He’s just a great dude,” Stefanski told Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer Sunday. “I mean, that’s the simple answer. He’s very engaging. He’s very, very intelligent. He’s extremely supportive. I gave him a game ball after the game just because he’s a team guy. He’s such a great teammate, and it’s all the things that nobody sees that he does in the locker room.
“After-hours calling, texting guys video clips of plays. Those go unnoticed. Not by me, but those can go unnoticed. Well, I should say, they don’t go unnoticed by me or his teammates. And he’s just a truly supportive person. I spend a ton of time with him, and I don’t know that I’ve been around a better teammate in my time.”
Brissett’s tenure with Stefanski started in Week 1 when he spoiled Baker Mayfield’s would-be revenge game. With just 1:13 left in the game, he led a fourth-quarter drive to set up a game-winning 58-yard field goal from Cade York. His best individual performance of the year was in Week 11 against a vaunted Bills defense when he carved up Buffalo just a week before Thanksgiving for 323 yards and three touchdown passes.
His ability to scramble and throw on the run was on full display while under pressure from Von Miller and company. His film when plays break down is impressive, particularly this game when on a fourth-and-5 he was chased by three defenders to his right. On the run, he threw a dart only where David Bell could get it for the critical first down. Cleveland would go on to lose the game 31–23.
His latest heroics came this past Sunday at his unofficial farewell party. Knowing this was likely it for him as Cleveland’s starting signal-caller, he saved his best performance for last, leading the Browns on a 46-yard touchdown drive to force overtime. During the team’s second possession of the extra period, he won the game after finding a wide-open Amari Cooper streaking down the right sideline to set up the Nick Chubb touchdown run.
He left the field with tears, knowing Cleveland won’t be his long-term home despite the fact that he still has six more weeks on the team at the very least.
“He’s meant the world to us, but he’s not dying. He’s still gonna be on the team,” guard Wyatt Teller told Breer. “He’s still gonna be a leader, and he’s still gonna be here.”
By the end of this year, teams like the Saints, Falcons, Panthers and Texans will all be looking for a long-term answer under center and they’d all be wise to call Brissett if they don’t find themselves with a gem in the 2023 NFL draft. A long-term deal might not be in the cards this offseason, but a real chance to finally earn the keys to a franchise is something Brissett has earned. And he knows it.
“I’m a starting quarterback in this league—I can confidently say that,” Brissett says. “Hopefully, a team turns on the tape, and they watch and they see that. But, I mean, that’s the future, and I can’t think about that right now. I just gotta be where I’m at right now.”
