How Jacoby Brissett can gift the Texans a top-10 draft pick

The entire NFL world is waiting on a suspension decision for Cleveland Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson.

However, on Wednesday afternoon, everyone received word of the other news people had been anticipating from Cleveland.

Baker Mayfield was finally traded.

The deal allowed Cleveland to finally move off their former franchise quarterback and first overall draft pick in 2018 after a public, messy divorce. The Browns received a 2024 conditional fifth-round pick from the Carolina Panthers in exchange for Mayfield’s services. It is strongly expected that Mayfield will open the year in Charlotte as the starter against his old team in Week 1.

In Houston, this move signified one prevailing sentiment to the franchise: Cleveland’s 2023 first-round pick has a ton of potential.

Cleveland’s backup situation rests in the hands of a very capable, although limited, starter in Jacoby Brissett, a player that Houston fans are very familiar with from his victory over the team as New England’s backup quarterback in 2016, his tenure in Indianapolis as a starter, and an ugly game serving as the Miami Dolphins’ starting quarterback last season.

Regardless of his success in New England or his struggles in Indianapolis, his limited ceiling is undeniable. Last year in five starts with Miami, Brissett threw for five touchdowns and four interceptions. His last full year as a starter was with the Indianapolis Colts in 2019 and they went 7-8 in his 15 games en route to missing the playoffs.

Brissett is a career 60% completion passer with a 2-1 touchdown to interception ratio. The kind of quarterback that most certainly belongs in the league but ideally isn’t starting for your team. He now has the potential to dictate the location of one of Houston’s two first-round picks next year.

Should Watson be suspended for the entire season, Cleveland will be hard pressed to find an upgrade this season over Brissett. He’ll have the luxury of playing with one of the most talented rosters in football but there are reasons for concerns even then.

The Browns are set to play one of the toughest divisions in football in 2022. The Cincinnati Bengals are coming off a Super Bowl appearance and have done a great job maintaining their roster. The Baltimore Ravens are almost certain to have better injury luck than in 2021 and have historically been dominant with Lamar Jackson under center. Finally, considered the weakest of the group, the Pittsburgh Steelers have never had a losing season under head coach Mike Tomlin and just upgraded at quarterback and offensive line.

Their out-of-division schedule features the Buffalo Bills, Los Angeles Chargers, New Orleans Saints, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and the always-difficult Patriots. Every bottom feeder they are allowed to play respective in the NFC South and AFC East on the schedule will be canceled out by one of the NFL’s Super Bowl contenders.

Meanwhile, in-house, there are legitimate concerns about the Cleveland wide receiver group. Amari Cooper was brought in from the Dallas Cowboys and will serve as the only receiver on the roster with proven NFL production. Behind him, Donovan Peoples-Jones and rookie David Bell will be asked to produce in shootouts for the Browns. It’s a group that is much more difficult to project success for without the arm of Watson.

Altogether, this becomes a season for Cleveland that is immensely difficult to project the wins you’d anticipate with their talent level. They’ll be at a talent deficiency at the quarterback position in every game beyond their contest with the Atlanta Falcons.

It is very possible that Cleveland misses the mark this season and is picking closer to the top-10 than in the 20s. Last season they gave Houston the 13th overall pick and may now have proceeded to downgrade at quarterback while the division improved.

The Texans likely have a high pick this year while their young players go through the growing pains of adjusting to the NFL level. A second high pick for Houston could be franchise-altering in terms of accelerating the rebuild and acquiring more elite talent for head coach Lovie Smith to deploy.

Make no mistake, the Baker Mayfield departure is meaningful for Houston. All eyes now turn to Sue Robinson to see if this Cleveland nightmare scenario comes to fruition.

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Story originally appeared on Texans Wire