The Lowdown on Jacoby Brissett

And so, Washington get their back-up QB for the 2023 season.

There had been some discussion of Taylor Heinicke returning to the burgundy & gold, but with TH4 heading to Atlanta, the Commanders have likely upgraded the QB room in the shape of Jacoby Brissett.

It might even be argued, that with his past resume and season in Cleveland, that Jacoby might offer serious training camp competition to Sam Howell to be the starting QB in Washington.

We continue our free agency lowdown features, with founder UKHTTC Christian Burt asking some Brissett questions to Browns aficionado @brownsfanuk

It seems Jacoby was well-liked in Cleveland as a placeholder for Watson. Do you feel he might be an NFL starter and do a 'Geno Smith' or a standard back-up?

Jacoby is certainly well liked in Cleveland.

Speaking for myself, he performed better than I expected him to. Jacoby started our first 11 games of the season (in place of the suspended Deshaun Watson), with a 4-7 record.

And I think that record was slightly harsh on him.

There were at least a couple games (if not more) that Browns should have won, where our Defense underperformed. I expected him to get a starting place somewhere going into FA after what I saw from him this season, potentially as a bridge.

Doing a ‘Geno Smith’ is a big ask though - maybe his ceiling isn’t that high, but you never know.

What is the best part of the Jacoby game and perhaps a weaker element?

I think the answer to this comes hand-in-hand. One of the reasons Jacoby did better than expected in the 2022 season is that he was assured and played within his limits.

He’s not going to get caught up in the moment and try something overly ambitious, Brissett plays clever.

Now, the flip side to this is that you’ll see cautious play. He’ll rely on the talent around him and Jacoby is not necessarily going to win a game on his own with outstanding QB play - but he’ll do his job and he’ll do it well.

In terms of character, is Brissett a good 'locker room guy'?

Jacoby is a great locker-room guy, by all accounts.

It seemed as if everyone loved him. I suppose that sort of character may come from his history as a back-up and having to wait for his chance - one that he always seemed more than grateful to get.

When Watson returned from suspension, he seamlessly reverted to back-up without complaining and gave it his all whenever called upon for a top-notch QB sneak (which became a bit of a trademark of his in Cleveland!). Jacoby is definitely a ‘team’ player.

Did Brissett lack support in Cleveland whether it be at WR or OL?

Jacoby came into a new Offense and there were some natural snags due to that, but I think it was relatively well tailored to him.

As you probably know, we like to run the ball from time to time in Cleveland, and I think that helped Jacoby. Having someone like Nick Chubb to hand the ball off would help any QB or Offense.

Receiver-wise, we have a very good WR1 in Amari Cooper and I really like Peoples-Jones who very much had the WR2 role last season, but we probably lacked a WR3 or someone in the Slot.

OL-wise, we’ve put a lot into the current line and it’s strong. The OL actually did a lot better with Jacoby at QB than it did the last 6 games of the season with the more mobile Watson, with 24 sacks allowed in the first eleven games with Jacoby, and 20 sacks in the final six games with Watson

In summary, what kind of guy are the Commanders getting?

The Commanders are getting a great guy, one that I’m sure the rest of the locker-room will like having around. He may not set the world alight with his play, but he’ll be steady and clever and get the most out of what he’s got.

At the risk of a ‘famous last words’ scenario, you won’t see many silly mistakes from him. He appeared to be a good leader, without a ‘diva’ bone in his body.

He’ll do a job for you next year even as a starter.