CLEVELAND — Hue Jackson will wait to name a starting quarterback. After replacing rookie DeShone Kizer with backup Cody Kessler in Sunday's loss to the Titans because of turnovers, the Browns coach said "everything is on the table."
Jackson, who lamented self-inflicted wounds that have hampered Cleveland in an 0-7 start, said he plans to make a decision Wednesday.
"We watch the tape and I like to get with the players and talk to them before we make any decision that way," Jackson said Monday.
Kizer, the rookie from Notre Dame, leads the team with six starts while Kevin Hogan received the nod against the Texans two weeks ago. Kessler started eight games as a rookie last season.
The Browns lead the league with 19 turnovers, including 17 interceptions. That dynamic, of course, will play a role in who starts this weekend against the Vikings in London.
"We can't turn the football over. That's going to be my battle cry as the coach and the offensive leader," he said. "We can't turn the ball over, and we have turned it over way too much."
— With Joe Thomas out for the remainder of the season, Jackson described the loss as a "big blow not just to our offense, but to our organization and our football team." Thomas, the 10-time Pro Bowl left tackle, played 10,363 consecutive snaps before suffering a triceps injury in the third quarter of Sunday's game.
"As I said yesterday, what he meant to me as a player, as a person and the things he brought to our football team in the locker room, the leadership piece will be missed," he said. "In order for him to be laying on that field, you have to understand that something has to be seriously wrong, and obviously it was. He will get that taken care of and we will move forward."
Thomas said he's set for surgery Tuesday and estimated his recovery could take anywhere from six to nine months.
— Jackson said the second-year offensive lineman Spencer Drango is poised to play left tackle at least until the bye week. "We'll keep talking about it as a staff and see if we need to shuffle some guys around, but what I don't want to do is take one position and all of a sudden have issues at other positions," Jackson said. "We may stand pat with that and put Spencer over there and do some things offensively to help. Then when we get back from our game in London during our bye, we will discuss what we think is best moving forward for those last eight games, but that's where we are right now."
Drango, a fifth-round pick from Baylor in 2016, played in all 16 games as a rookie, starting nine of them.
— Hogan, who was inactive this past weekend because of a ribs injury, is in the mix to start Sunday's game against the Vikings in London, but "I need to know where he is medically," Jackson said. "Our guys were running around today and there were some things that they were doing that he wasn't."
Hogan struggled in his debut as a starter, throwing three interceptions against Houston.
— Jackson expressed confidence in the young Kizer, who has showed promise despite struggling with turnovers. "I truly believe DeShone is going to grow out of a lot of this. I do, but that takes time and that takes work," he said. "I think he is working at it. I thought we all saw improvement from him in the first half up until the first turnover. I thought he was doing some really good things and playing well. I said this a long time ago, the pressure of playing quarterback in the National Football League for 50 plays, 40 plays, first half, whatever that is is sometimes a big task for some men."
