Jacoby Brissett News

The Washington Commanders are signing quarterback Jacoby Brissett to a one-year contract. The deal will reportedly be worth up to $10 million and includes $8 million guaranteed. Brissett is expected to compete with 2022 fifth-round pick Sam Howell for the Commanders' starting job in 2023. The 30-year-old made 11 starts in 16 appearances for the Cleveland Browns last season and threw for 2,608 yards on a career-best 64.0 completion percentage, with 12 touchdowns and 6 interceptions. Brissett performed better than expected last season, finishing 6th in completion percentage over expected and 11th in pass EPA per play among quarterbacks with at least 100 dropbacks. He averaged 15.83 FanDuel points per game as a starter.

Brissett is coming off a 2022 campaign in which he held down the fort at quarterback for the Browns until Deshaun Watson completed his suspension. In 16 appearances (11 starts), Brissett posted 2,608 yards, 12 touchdowns and six interceptions on 64-percent passing while also rushing 49 times for 243 yards and two more scores. Upon joining Washington, he likely will slot in as the backup to second-year signal-caller Sam Howell, barring further additions to the QB room.

Cleveland head coach Kevin Stefanski, who has designed many productive opening drives in 2022, is getting second-guessed by the Monday morning quarterbacks with some validity. On the Sunday's opening drive, the coach replaced quarterback Deshaun Watson (3-for-3, 34 yards at the time) with Brissett on fourth-and-one at the Bengals' 25. Instead of a potential quarterback sneak, Brissett sailed a corner-route throw over Donovan Peoples-Jones. It was a curious decision to remove Watson made more curious by the play call. Instead of getting three points or letting his highly paid quarterback handle a crucial situation, Stefanski rolled the dice.

Playing what is expected to be his final game in the starting role before Deshaun Watson's Week 13 debut, Brissett went out on a high note. Although he wasn't as productive from a raw numbers standpoint as other games, Brissett handled himself reasonably well while taking four sacks from an aggressive Buccaneers pass rush. The veteran signal-caller then finished off his day in stellar fashion, recording completions of 17 and 45 yards to Amari Cooper on what would turn out to be the Browns' game-winning drive. If Watson remains free of injury the rest of the season, then Brissett will have wrapped up his time as a starter in 2022 with a 12:6 TD:INT alongside 2,608 passing yards and an additional 238 rushing yards.

Brissett was clicking with Amari Cooper throughout the afternoon against a tough Bills secondary, hitting the veteran wideout on a team-high eight occasions for 113 yards and touchdown passes of 25 and seven yards. With the Browns falling progressively behind and unable to get anything going on the ground with Nick Chubb, Brissett finished with his second-most pass attempts and highest passing yardage total of the season, as well as his first multi-touchdown effort since Week 3. Brissett has one more game remaining in the starting role -- a Week 12 home matchup against the Buccaneers -- before Deshaun Watson (suspension) takes over in Week 13.

The change in venue can probably be seen as nothing but a positive development for all Browns players and their respective fantasy outlooks. Not only will the Browns now have the benefit of playing one of their road games at a neutral-site venue, but they'll have the luxury of playing in a domed stadium, where scoring tends to be higher. Additionally, the move of the Week 11 game to Detroit removes the potential headache fantasy managers might have faced in determining how the inclement weather might affect the passing and running games. Brissett is coming off a Week 10 outing against the Dolphins in which he carried seven times for 40 yards and completed 22 of 35 pass attempts for 212 yards and a touchdown.