Brandon Weeden was a first-round pick in 2012 and spent much of the last two years as the starting quarterback in Cleveland, a run that ended with his release this offseason and eventual signing with the Cowboys.
Weeden doesn’t have a shot at the starting job in Dallas and may not even see the field if all goes well for Tony Romo, but he didn’t sound all that unhappy about the change in fortunes during an interview with Alex Marvez and Zig Fracassi on Sirius XM NFL Radio. Weeden said he’s looking forward to learning from Romo and Kyle Orton after not getting much veteran tutelage in Cleveland.
He also said he’s looking forward to playing in a more stable environment in Dallas, which is not always the description of life in Jerry Jones’ world but Weeden saw three front office and coaching regimes in less than three years with the Browns. Weeden said that all the change caused him to put too much pressure on himself and hurt him on the field.
“It wasn’t an ideal situation. The regime that drafted me was out a year after I got there. You never know the plans the group coming in has,” Weeden said. “I think, as a player, as much as you try not to do too much, try not to put too much pressure on yourself to perform and show you can be the guy for the long haul, sometimes you get caught up in it. You try to do much as a player. That’s one thing if I could change about myself, I wouldn’t try to do too much every Sunday. Just let the game kinda come to you and be more patient.”
When and if Weeden will get an opportunity to try a different approach as a starting quarterback are unknown at this point. Should it come, we’ll find out if the dysfunction in Cleveland put Weeden in a bad spot or if the dysfunction was the reason why he was in that position in the first place.