Jacoby Brissett Should Have Suitors After Impressive Cleveland Browns Spell

Jacoby Brissett will hand the reins of the Cleveland Browns’ offense over to Deshaun Watson this week, ending a spell as a starting quarterback that should be viewed favorably despite Cleveland’s disappointing record through 11 games.

The Browns stand at 4-7 heading into Week 13 following their overtime win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, which marked the crowning achievement of Brissett’s time as the stand-in for Watson.

Though Cleveland will be anticipated to improve to 5-7 when Watson makes his debut against his former team the Houston Texans, a late surge to the postseason appears unlikely for the Browns.

In that context, Brissett could be criticised for having failed keep the Browns in contention long enough for them to make a run with Watson under center. However, Cleveland’s inability to stay in the thick of the playoff picture in the AFC is more a failure of the coaching staff and front office than it is of Brissett, whose consistently impressive performances should ensure he will have plenty of suitors in the offseason.

Brissett is a free agent at the start of the new league year and those teams looking for a potential short-term option at the quarterback may well be convinced to make a push for his services after examining his tape and his eye-opening numbers.

The former New England Patriots, Indianapolis Colts and Miami Dolphins quarterback has been one of the most efficient in the NFL by almost every metric in 2022. Brissett ranks seventh in Football Outsiders DYAR, which measures total value, and sixth in its DVOA metric, a gauge of per-play value. On top of that, he is seventh in ESPN Stats and Information’s QBR metric.

He does not fare quite as well in Expected Points Added per play, in which he is 13th. However, when rbsdm.com factors in accuracy in its composite Expected Points Added + Completion Percentage Over Expectation metric, Brissett is the 10th-best quarterback in the NFL.

And this efficiency and accuracy has not come at the expense of ambition. According to NextGen Stats, Brissett is averaging 9.1 intended air yards per attempt, the sixth-most in the NFL, while he is fifth in Football Outsiders’ ALEX metric, which measures the difference between the distance of a quarterback’s throw and the yards needed to convert on third down. On average, Brissett’s throws have travelled three yards further than the line to gain.

Brissett is not the dual-threat Watson is and lacks the deep-ball upside of the man taking over as the Browns’ starter. Therefore, theoretically the Browns’ extremely controversial switch at the game’s most important position will upgrade the offense.

But Brissett has proven he could be an upgrade for teams across the league either as a stop-gap starter for a rebuilding team or as a very high-end backup who can come in and succeed with a contender in relief of a starter if needed.

With the 2023 offseason likely to be dominated by discussion around quarterback movement, Brissett represents an underrated potential prize on the open market.