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The Tufts Daily
Where you read it first | Wednesday, February 19, 2025

QB Q&A: Sorrow of the Browns

Subpar quarterback play has pervaded throughout the last quarter-century of the team’s history.

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Three Cleveland Browns players are pictured.

Since the revival of the Cleveland Browns franchise in 1999, their quarterback play has been extraordinarily horrible. It’s been almost 20 years since any quarterback started for the Browns for more than four seasons. Since 1999, 40 quarterbacks have started for the Browns, many of whom were career journeymen.

So, who has been the worst quarterback for the Browns since then? With almost two new quarterbacks starting a game for the Browns each year, there are bound to be some stinkers. Unfortunately for the Browns, all of their quarterbacks have been mediocre or worse. In this article, I have to set a few boundaries. First, a quarterback must have started at least eight games in order to qualify for this list. That’s the number of games Johnny Manziel started, and it would feel weird not to include him. Still, I’m not here to throw Connor Shaw and Spergon Wynn under the bus for starting one game. Below is the list of all qualified starting quarterbacks and their stats as a Brown.  

1999–2003: Tim Couch (22W–37L, 64 TD, 67 INT)   

2000: Doug Pederson (1W–7L, 2 TD, 8 INT)   

2002–04: Kelly Holcomb (4W–8L, 26 TD, 21 INT)   

2004: Jeff Garcia (3W–7L, 10 TD, 9 INT)   

2005: Trent Dilfer (4W–7L, 11 TD, 12 INT)   

2005–7: Charlie Frye (6W–13L, 14 TD, 23 INT)   

2006–9: Derek Anderson (16W–18L, 46 TD, 45 INT, 2007 Pro Bowler)   

2008–9: Brady Quinn (3W–9L, 10 TD, 9 INT)   

2010–11: Colt McCoy (6W–15L, 21 TD, 20 INT)

2012–13: Brandon Weeden (5W–15L, 23 TD, 26 INT)  

2013: Jason Campbell (1W–7L, 11 TD, 8 INT)   

2013–14: Brian Hoyer (10W–6L, 17 TD, 16 INT)   

2014–15: Johnny Manziel (2W–6L, 7 TD, 7 INT)   

2015–16: Josh McCown (1W–10L, 18 TD, 10 INT)

2016: Cody Kessler (0W–8L, 6 TD, 2 INT)   

2017: DeShone Kizer (0W–15L, 11 TD, 22 INT)   

2018–21: Baker Mayfield (29W–30L, 92 TD, 56 INT)   

2022: Jacoby Brissett (4W–7L, 12 TD, 6 INT)   

2022–present: Deshaun Watson (9W–10L, 19 TD, 12 INT)  

Now that is a horrific quarterback history. Only one quarterback, Hoyer, has a winning record, and only two have a 2-to-1 touchdown to interception ratio (Kessler and Brissett). For context, Derek Carr, a low-tier starting quarterback for the New Orleans Saints, had a 3-to-1 touchdown to interception ratio during the 2024–25 season.   

The race to the bottom is shared almost exclusively by two players, Kizer and Pederson. Kizer threw 11 touchdowns over 15 games, which is better than Pederson’s touchdown total, but Kizer did do it in a much more pass-friendly era. Not only was Kizer the architect of a team that went 0–16, but he was also a second-round draft pick who never started again after his rookie season. His team averaged a measly 14.6 points per game during their 2017 campaign. There’s a reason why Mayfield was drafted to replace him.

As bad as Kizer was, Pederson has to be the worst Browns quarterback ever. Pederson’s tenure with the Browns was not a shining light for the future Super Bowl-winning coach. Although he was always intended to be a backup, the Browns averaged a staggeringly low 10.1 points the season he was under center. His two touchdowns over eight games certainly didn’t help either. Somehow Pederson convinced the Green Bay Packers that his horrendous showing with the Browns should warrant his being Hall of Famer Brett Favre’s backup for the next four years. Yet, in Pederson’s one win as a Brown, he beat the Bill Belichick-led Patriots, so that should count for something.