Brandon Weeden is going to have a lot of work ahead of him if he plans to win over his critics within the Browns organization. His latest being running back Trent Richardson.
The news came from NFL Networks Steve Wyche who said that while Richardson likes Weeden he felt the quarterback struggled to read defenses and caused the Browns offense to be dialed down.
“He also told me a little bit more about Brandon Weeden,” Wyche told co-host Mark Kriegel. “He said as a rookie, [Weeden] really had trouble reading defenses from time to time and they had to skew their offense a little bit, sometimes somewhat predictable. [He] thinks things are going to open up a little bit, but he really does like Brandon Weeden.”
During the on-camera interview, Richardson predicted Weeden will be the starter in 2013.
“I think he’ll be my quarterback,” Richardson said. “We can’t put too much on Brandon, especially as a rookie. … We want to make sure he believes, he knows he’s going to be our quarterback. When it comes to stuff like that, we’ve just all got to be behind him.”
Richardson did not let himself off the hook either.
“For most people, they say I had a great season, but I think it was OK,” he said. “I probably say it was a C-plus, something like that. But for me man, I expect more than that. I had 950 rushing, but I did have like 450 in receiving. It’s different when it comes to receiving and you lead the team in receptions (actually second) and stuff like that. When you’re doing a lot and from playing with broken ribs and having knee surgery before the season, it’s big.”
The Browns have a new coaching staff in place. New offensive coordinator Norv Turner has a history of featuring his running backs in the passing game so Richardson should have plenty of work when the Browns are on offense.
