The Browns traded Cody Kessler to the Jaguars, completing their latest ouroboros of shame

The life cycle of a Browns quarterback begins with an egg of hope. From there, it develops into a larva of frustration, and, eventually, a chrysalis of failure. The final step is for the fully formed Cleveland butterfly of hopelessness to leave its cocoon in search of more hospitable environments.

For Cody Kessler, that final stage will take place in Jacksonville.

It was less than three years ago the Browns invested a third-round pick in Kessler, then a promising young passer from USC. Despite showing signs of life and being the only Cleveland starting quarterback to post a positive touchdown-to-interception ratio the past two seasons, he was shipped to the Jaguars in exchange for a conditional seventh-rounder.

It’s not a great visual for the team, but was something deemed necessary for a franchise working to move past a historically awful 1-31 stretch the past two seasons. The Browns have the No. 1 and No. 4 picks in a quarterback-heavy draft, traded for two-time Pro Bowler Tyrod Taylor, and signed Drew Stanton, a less-accomplished Josh McCown. That meant even fewer opportunities in 2018 for Kessler, a player limited to just 23 passes last fall.

Hell, the former Trojans standout wasn’t even the first passer the team traded this offseason. That honor went to DeShone Kizer, the player who beat out Kessler at the top of the depth chart, then went 0-15 as a starter while throwing 11 touchdowns and 22 interceptions. Kizer is now the Packers’ developmental QB after being shipped north in exchange for cornerback Damarious Randall.

Moving these soon-to-be-redundant players was an easy call for new general manager John Dorsey, even if the message these trades sends isn’t exactly consistent. Hue Jackson is still Cleveland’s head coach despite winning just one game in his first two seasons on the job. He’s somehow set the bar so low even a single win will represent progress. Traditionally, he’d be the first man swapped out in the name of culture change.

Instead, the Browns are taking it out on guys drafted by former regimes. That includes Kessler, Kizer, and Danny Shelton, a former first-rounder who was traded to the Patriots. It’s a blessing for these young players, too — Kessler and Shelton ended up with the two teams from January’s AFC title game. Kizer landed in Green Bay, whose postseason streak was only halted by Aaron Rodgers’ crushed collarbone. They’ll actually *win* games there.

As last season proved, that’s no guarantee in Cleveland.

Kessler’s passer rating in 2016 was 92.3. His next closest teammate on the club leaderboard was Charlie Whitehurst, who scored a 78.8 rating in his one game with the franchise. The Browns just traded away their most effective quarterback from the past two seasons to a team that will sit him behind Blake Bortles. In exchange, they’ll get one of the last selections of this year’s draft.

There are some positives elsewhere on the roster. Myles Garrett looks worthy of 2017’s No. 1 pick and the Joe Schobert-Christian Kirksey-Jamie Collins triumvirate at linebacker is a worthy building block behind a deep defensive line. Joe Thomas retired, but an otherwise solidly built group of blockers will benefit from protecting a quarterback who actively runs away from trouble rather than into it. Carlos Hyde should be able to find daylight behind them, and former All-Pro Josh Gordon should be around all season (unless he gets suspended again).

But Cleveland’s history suggests these reasons for offseason optimism will all end the same way: discarded in a pile of unfulfilled potential. The quarterback situation in particular is an ouroboros of shame. It has turned hyped products into NFL washouts and pushed useful veterans into a black hole from which they are never seen again. Its biggest success story is a 39-year-old Josh McCown.

It’s uniquely bad, its legacy the nostril-burning aura of a skunk’s spray that refuses to wear off. Wednesday’s Kessler trade is just the regurgitation of its latest victim.