Jacoby Brissett said he feels no pressure as he takes over for Deshaun Watson and would not look over his shoulder if the Browns added another quarterback. (Cleveland Browns)
Jacoby Brissett is getting a lot of love from the Browns as he takes over for Deshaun Watson
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Editor's note: Tony Grossi is a Cleveland Browns analyst for TheLandOnDemand.com and 850 ESPN Cleveland. He has covered the Browns since 1984.
Takeaways from Browns interviews and joint practice with Philadelphia Eagles …
Can Jacoby Brissett hold the fort during Deshaun Watson’s 11-game suspension?
Who knows? We won’t even see him play in a preseason game until next Saturday night in the summer finale against the Chicago Bears.
But one thing about Brissett is clear since he joined the Browns in free agency in March: Everybody likes him.
“He’s a high-class, benevolent young man and has zero bad habits,” Hall of Fame coach Bill Parcells, a mentor to Brissett since he was a high schooler, told TLOD earlier this month.
Linebacker Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah has the locker next to Brissett’s in the Browns’ locker room.
“He’s like one of the elders in the locker room,” said JOK. “He’s experienced a lot of people. Jacoby, he’s the guy that we look to for that elder wisdom. He’s like, what do they call … the shaman. He has the wisdom that we’re all trying to get.”
Yes, Brissett has experienced a lot of people.
Parcells is his long-time mentor. Bill Belichick was his first NFL coach. At 29, Brissett has backed up quarterback elite such as Tom Brady, Andrew Luck and Philip Rivers.
Another coach Brissett has touched is Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni.
Brissett had his best year in 2019 with Sirianni as his offensive coordinator in Indianapolis. Brissett had the Colts at 5-2 as the starting QB until injuries beset the club. Brissett ended up with 18 TDs v. 6 interceptions, but the Colts faded to 7-9.
“He's the best,” Sirianni said Friday, before concluding joint practices with the Browns. “My kids still ask, how is Jacoby doing? My wife still asks about him.
"He's just a great leader and great guy to be around. I always thought this about Jacoby -- I don't really want to talk about other people's teams, but Jacoby and I are close, and Jacoby is special to me so I don't mind doing this with him -- I just always thought of him as such a good leader, such a good teammate, such a great guy to be around every day.
“Really those are the things that really stick out for me. And then his play ... I don't mind saying this, like I just always thought, this is a strong, strong man the way he's able -- I just close my eyes and think about a play he made against Denver in 2019.
“We're in a two-minute drive to win the football game, and Von Miller comes through on a stunt three, and we're backed up. We're at about the 4-yard line and Jacoby just … Von Miller is one of the best players of all time. Jacoby gets him off him, scrambles to his right and throws a tightrope 40 yards down the field to T.Y. Hilton, which helped us win the football game in that sense.
“I just can't say enough about Jacoby Brissett. I love the man.”
Apparently, so do the Browns.
While seemingly everyone on the outside of the team is urging the Browns to acquire San Francisco 49ers available quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo, the Browns show no signs of bringing in a competitor for Brissett’s starting job in place of Watson.
“You can’t really worry about what outsiders say,” receiver Amari Cooper said. “We know Jacoby. We understand what he brings to the table. We see him practice every day and see how hard he works. We 100 percent believe in him. He would not be back there if we did not.”
Brissett had only his second appearance at the interview podium of training camp on Friday. Two answers from him pretty much tell you what he’s all about.
He was asked about having the expectations of a Super Bowl now placed on his shoulders for the 11 games he’ll play ahead of Watson.
“Could [not] care less,” he answered. “Here to do my job, do the best I can, lead, be the same guy and be a good teammate, and then everything else will take care of itself.”
Right after, he was asked if the Browns brought in another quarterback, would that cause him to look over his shoulder as a threat to his role.
Brissett merely smiled at that, and said, “I would not be a great teammate if I thought like that.”
Slowly it goes
It was not a particularly great day for the Browns’ offense against the Eagles in the second day of joint practices.
In 7-on-7s from the red zone, Brissett connected with Cooper in the end zone on his first two throws. Those were the only scores in Brissett’s five plays.
Watson had touchdowns to Mike Harley and Daylen Baldwin among his four snaps, and Josh Rosen scored on a throw to tight end Nakia Griffin-Stewart on his third and final snap.
Things bogged down in 11-on-11s with a pass rush in the red zone.
Again, Brissett scored on his first snap on a connection with David Njoku. His first period ended with handoffs to Nick Chubb and Jerome Ford for little gain, and a scramble after a false start.
On Brissett’s second set, a screen to Njoku was stopped before the end zone, Brissett threw short for Donovan Peoples-Jones, and there was a handoff to Chubb.
On Brissett’s third set, an interception was dropped by Eagles linebacker Kyzir White and Brissett had a throwaway to avoid a sack by end Josh Sweat.
Brissett’s final set featured a touch sack, a pass to Ja’Marcus Bradley short of the goal line, and an incompletion out of the reach of Cooper in the left corner.
Along with reps by Watson, Rosen and Josh Dobbs, the Browns took 30 snaps inside the red zone and had only two touchdowns on throws – Brissett to Njoku and Watson to David Bell.
In a closing two-minute drill, left tackle Jedrick Wills committed consecutive pre-snap penalties and was pulled from the field by Kevin Stefanski. Wills was upset and was spoken to on the sideline by line coach Bill Callahan and defensive end Jadeveon Clowney.
Brownie Bits
The Cade York summer tour de force rolled on. The rookie kicker made 7 of 8 field goals in team formation, missing the last one right from 55 yards. That spree ran York’s training camp totals in team formation to 35 of 38 …
Defensive Myles Garrett returned from a four-day leave of absence to tend to a family member who is ill. Garrett joined his teammates for 1-on-1s against the Eagles, then slipped inside for a spell before returning to watch the rest of the practice …
Among those not practicing for the Browns were receiver Anthony Schwartz and running back Kareem Hunt …
In kickoff drills, the Browns’ returners were Mike Harley, Jerome Ford and newcomer Easop Winston …
The teams are off on Saturday and square up Sunday in FirstEnergy Stadium for preseason Game 2. Both teams are expected to play few regulars. Stefanski said Josh Dobbs and Josh Rosen would be the only quarterbacks to play.
