Brandon Weeden 'expects' to be Browns' starter

Brandon Weeden threw for 3,385 yards but had 14 touchdowns and 17 interceptions in 2012. (USATSI)

Cleveland Browns CEO Joe Banner said last week that the team will look to bring in competition for quarterback Brandon Weeden, but Weeden will have "his best chance to succeed." On Monday, Weeden confidently stated that he anticipates being the team's starting quarterback.

"I completely expect to be the starter," Weeden told the Cleveland Plain-Dealer. "That's my mind-set going in. I'm confident in my ability to be the guy, to lead this football team. I expect completely to be better this year than I was last year."

And he wasn't great last year. Weeden threw for 3,385 yards but just 14 touchdowns against 17 interceptions. Only Mark Sanchez and Matt Cassell had lower quarterback ratings than Weeden's 72.6 among regular starters.

But there aren't many options for the Browns. Banner already said the team wouldn't use a draft pick on a quarterback in the first two rounds of the NFL Draft, so it's difficult to imagine a better option emerging. Plus, Weeden appears to have some key offensive players on his side, including running back Trent Richardson.

"I think he will be my quarterback," Richardson told NFL AM on Tuesday. "We can't put too much on Brandon, we got to make sure he believes in us and make sure he believes that we know that he is going to be our quarterback. ... We just got to all be behind Brandon."

A lot will certainly depend on how well Weeden meshes with new head coach Rob Chudzinski and offensive coordinator Norv Turner. Last month, Turner indicated that he was looking for Weeden to improve but gave no indication that either he or the organization expected anyone else to be the team's starting quarterback.

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