Dear 2013 1st Round Draft Pick/Overpriced, Old Free Agent or Trade Acquisition,
Welcome to our "team." I know there's a lot of excitement about your arrival, but please, please don't let it go to your head. Soon enough your will be gone or, at minimum, you will be demonized by the fan base for taking away playing time from the 2014 version of you who is "sinfully" riding the bench behind you.
But it's not all grim...if you just enjoy the ride. Hey, remember the guy you replaced? Weeden. He was highly touted too. Before he wasn't. By Week 8, he couldn't do ANYTHING right. But Week 2 of the pre-season? He was glorified for a mid-70s QB rating. Why? Mostly because it was an improvement. An improvement over the 19 he put up in his first pre-season start. Don't worry, the former savior of this team got a good job selling insurance back in Oklahoma. (Honestly, he may be playing third string for the Seahawks, but I thought I'd give his hypothetical future a more dignified and profitable lot.)
It's not that Cleveland Browns fans will come to hate you. It's just...they never really liked you in the first place. People think that Browns fans like being miserable. That's not true. We just LOVE hope. But happiness and success don't breed hope. Hope is an attribute of the destitute. The last half of any season (or in your case, Cleveland QB's career) is designed to setup a bottom. "Our future has floundered. We need more weapons. If we can just put it together in the offseason..." That way, the first half of the following season (and the months before it) can be filled with that sweet nectar of hope. "Great offseason moves! I think they're putting it together! (And in your case) This is our franchise QB of the future!!!" They need your fall to setup their rise. It's not that they don't want success, but at this point in the teams unfathomably bad history, it's really Super Bowl or Bust. Because while a Super Bowl is the dream, Bust ain't that bad either. An offseason of cathartic and fan-base-team-building complaining followed by a hope-filled 1st half of the following season isn't the worst parting gift.
Anyways, just wanted to give you a heads up. Good luck, and get your BJs in before midseason.
Sincerely,
A Browns Fan til I die, because it will probably kill me.
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