Please don’t visit this site if you expect this off-season to bring daily diatribe about who should start at quarterback next year. My only strong opinion on this topic is that Kelly Holcomb deserves the chance to compete for the job against Tim Couch on equal terms. Butch Davis ought to let both QBs know that they will need to prove themselves by their off-season work and performance in minicamp and preseason. This type of competition will serve the team better by motivating both guys to improve. It should be performance from this point forward that counts — not draft position, salary, or popularity. The tightrope Davis must walk is promoting open competition quietly enough to prevent factions from developing on the team. Forget out the media and fan hype — there’s no stopping them from engaging in ad nauseum debates, polls, and endless speculation. Davis must avoid adding any fuel to the public aspect of the controversy, so that both QBs feel they have been treated fairly and will be willing to work hard to give the Browns what every good NFL team needs: an excellent starter and game-ready backup.

There is one more wrinkle in this fabric: this week Browns quietly signed another QB, Pat Barnes, the 27-year-old former Cal star most recently with Winnipeg of the CFL. One might infer from this any of the following possibilities:

1)As a competitor for the third-string QB job, Barnes’ signing simply signifies that the Browns are not sold on Josh Booty and don’t think Kevin Thompson is a viable challenger.

2)The Browns may be willing to unload Couch and his hefty salary, because it’s unlikely he would be content with accepting a backup role.

3)The team is keeping its options open and may entertain pre-draft trade offers for Holcomb.

All I know is not to take Butch Davis’s words at face value….