The Browns just made a smart move to pick up a very talented quarterback. The two-year contract for Robert Griffin III is the kind of low-risk, high-reward signing that even the league’s savvy organizations seldom find.

Contrast that to the scene only four years ago, when the Heisman winner inspired a bidding war between Cleveland and Washington. Which team would offer the Rams more for the second-overall pick behind the obvious top guy, Andrew Luck? Much to Mike Holmgren’s chagrin, Washington did what Washington does: mortgage the future to power up the present. They spent three first-rounders and a high second for right to draft the dual-threat Baylor star.

For your reference, those four picks, some re-traded, became Dallas CB Morris Claiborne (36 starts), new Giants CB Janoris Jenkins (six defensive TDs with the Rams helped lead to a huge UFA payday), Falcons CB Desmond Trufant (a Pro Bowler and Atlanta’s best defender), and OT Greg Robinson (28 starts).

Meanwhile, Griffin’s well-documented story — from AP Offensive Rookie of the Year to injuries and more troubles leading to his release earlier this month — amounts to mere prelude to what we hope will be an epic reclamation project. Head coach Hue Jackson is reportedly enamored with what he sees as a humbled man who sports uncanny accuracy as a passer. After not seeing the field at all last year, Griffin is as healthy as ever.

Among the reaction pieces I’ve read today, this one is particularly encouraging in that it both explains and shows how Griffin is probably farther ahead than most people think in his development as a pocket passer.

Griffin isn’t just a quarterback who can run and throw the ball far. He wasn’t just a physical freak coming out of college. His technical prowess and intelligence made him worthy of being the second overall pick in the 2012 draft. That technical prowess and intelligence wasn’t consistently on show in 2014, but it was still there…

A common criticism of Griffin is that he can’t read through progressions. It’s the go-to move for those intent on criticizing black quarterbacks. It goes completely against the evidence on the field…

Not only is he more accurate on short and intermediate routes than other players who were available this offseason, he is arguably the most impressive deep passer in the NFL. Griffin can make throws that most quarterbacks can’t and he can make them with impressive consistency. Even when he misses, he rarely misses wildly. That is typically a sign of a passer who is in full control of the ball and is comfortable with his arm talent.

There is no doubting Griffin’s ability as a passer. He is on a different level to the Josh McCown, Ryan Fitzpatrick and Brock Osweiler of the world. Griffin doesn’t need Hue Jackson to revive his career or rebuild him as a player, he just needs his new coaching staff to embrace him by showing patience and constructing a system around him that plays to his strengths.

So we have our first marquee signing of the Browns’ Moneyball era. After losing six of their seven potential unrestricted free agents, this exciting news is most welcome. Still, it’s no guarantee that RGIII will last any longer than most of his 49 predecessors as Browns quarterbacks since the 1999 rebirth.

That’s right, by my count, he’s the 50th signal-caller this regenerated franchise has had under contract. It may prove ironic that on the day of his signing, his new coach attended the Pro Day for Carson Wentz, who could become the 51st. If anything, bringing in an experienced but still young quarterback opens up all sorts of possibilities for the Browns’ draft plans.

One certainty is that they will draft a quarterback at some point in the early rounds. Another is that one more QB on the roster will be on his way out. The chatter is that the Browns are shopping Josh McCown, but I’d rather they keep him over either Connor Shaw or Austin Davis. I doubt they’d get much in trade for McCown. He’s a steadying old hand in the QB room to benefit Griffin and the rookie. And he played well enough last year to serve as a fallback or fill-in in the not unlikely event of injury.

Meanwhile Griffin, an obvious upgrade over the similarly athletic but seriously troubled bust we recently scuttled, seems the immediate favorite to start Week 1. How he handles business between now and then will speak volumes. And we’ll be listening.

Trivial side notes:

• Griffin is the ninth Heisman Trophy winner to become a Cleveland Brown. None of them made the Pro Bowl here, and none are in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
• If Josh Gordon is reinstated and Griffin takes the field with him, it will mark a reunion from their big year together at Baylor in 2010, before either had turned 21.
• Griffin is the highest drafted player on the Browns’ roster since the release of Courtney Brown nearly 11 years ago.
• His 1,480 career rushing yards is 325 more than the Browns’ team record for QBs, held by Mike Phipps.
• Will he start Game 1? If so, he’d be the first African American quarterback to do so in Browns history.