CLEVELAND -- The Cleveland Browns continued overhauling the quarterback room Wednesday, as they agreed to trade former starter Cody Kessler to the Jacksonville Jaguars.
In exchange for Kessler, the Browns get a conditional seventh-round pick in the 2019 NFL Draft.
After being pressed into service as a rookie because of injuries to starter Robert Griffin III and veteran reserve Josh McCown during the 2016 season, Kessler entered 2017 with the mindset that the starting job was his to lose during the offseason program and through training camp.
Despite starting training camp as the No. 1 quarterback on the depth chart, Kessler quickly fell to No. 2 behind Brock Osweiler, and later, No. 3 when rookie DeShone Kizer, who was traded to the Green Bay Packers early this offseason, led game-winning drives in preseason play.
In nine games, including eight starts, during the 2016 season, Kessler completed 128 of his 195 attempts (65.6 percent) for 1,380 yards and six touchdowns against just two interceptions. However, despite having a 92.3 quarterback rating, Kessler endured 21 sacks for 140 lost yards and suffered two concussions in the span of a month.
A third-round pick of the Browns in the 2016 NFL Draft out of the University of Southern California, Kessler completed 139 of his 218 attempts (63.8 percent) for 1,506 yards and six touchdowns against three interceptions despite being sacked 27 times for 188 lost yards in two years with the Browns.
Since the end of the 2017 season, the Browns have traded their most tenured quarterbacks, Kizer and Kessler, acquired veteran Tyrod Taylor in a deal with the Buffalo Bills and signed free-agent Drew Stanton to a two-year deal.
During his seven-year career with the Baltimore Ravens and Bills, Taylor completed 793 of his 1,271 attempts (62.4 percent) for 9,056 yards and 51 touchdowns against 18 interceptions. Of those 793 completions, 116 went for at least 20 yards and 22 more were 40-yard gains.
In his three seasons with the Bills, the 6-foot-1, 215-pound Taylor completed 774 passes for 8,837 yards and 51 touchdowns against 16 interceptions.
In addition to the trade for Taylor and the signing of Stanton, the Browns are expected to select a quarterback with one of their two picks in the top five of the 2018 NFL Draft next month.
