Releasing a 37-year-old quarterback who had one win in 11 starts with the Cleveland Browns shouldn't come as a surprise, even if said quarterback was as well respected and liked within the organization as any player in recent memory.

Josh McCown spent two seasons in Cleveland, and they turned out to be tumultuous. He had two head coaches, two offensive systems and five other quarterbacks with him in those two seasons. In those years, the team won four games; one of them was when he started.

McCown was everything he was advertised to be. He was a great teammate. He was smart. He was professional. He did everything a team wants from a player on its roster. But he had trouble staying healthy, and the Browns were 1-10 in his starts.

Releasing McCown does, though, raise the very real possibility that the Browns and coach Hue Jackson will be starting over (again) at quarterback in 2017.

If the team decides to part ways with Robert Griffin III, that would leave Cody Kessler as the lone holdover and would put the Browns in the market in a major way for two more quarterbacks.

Logic would say they'd add a young veteran via free agency or trade, and then draft another. Let the competition to be the opening day starter begin.

The Browns have yet to make a decision on Griffin, and they may well keep him. But when a coach says he needs time to decide on a player, it usually means he has reservations about that player. Jackson's stance this entire offseason has been that he needs more time to evaluate Griffin.

The implication seems clear: The Browns will spend more time evaluating their options at the position this offseason and move toward adding two new players to go with Kessler.

The opening game of the 2017 season may well feature the 27th quarterback to start a game for the Browns since 1999.