#FailForCardale: Is Cardale Jones Destined to Be a Cleveland Brown?

COLUMBUS, Ohio — On the first day of August, one of his final days of freedom before the rigors of fall camp began two hours down Interstate 71 South, Cardale Jones spent an afternoon in Berea, Ohio, watching the Cleveland Browns take part in their training camp.

At the time, Jones' visit to the Browns facility seemed innocuous.

After all, Berea is just down the road from Jones' hometown of Cleveland. More importantly, one of Jones' top targets from his playing days at Glenville High School, Shane Wynn, was trying to make the Browns as an undrafted free agent.

But following Ohio State's season-opening win over Virginia Tech on Monday, Jones' late-summer visit to Berea could prove to be more prophetic than it was anything else. That's because in his re-debut as the Buckeyes starting quarterback, Jones' play elicited audible gasps from more than just the NFL scouts who were in attendance at Lane Stadium.

By the time Ohio State had wrapped up its 42-24 victory over the Hokies, #FailForCardale was not only trending on Twitter but had been specifically linked to Browns fans. The message from the Cleveland fanbase was clear: Lose as many games in the upcoming season as it takes to wind up with a pick high enough to select Jones, who is already viewed as one of the top quarterback prospects in the 2016 draft.

Sometimes, the tweets were in jest, and sometimes, they were serious. But it's already apparent it will be more than just the portion of Browns fans who double as Buckeyes loyalists keeping an eye on Ohio State this season.

"'Fail For Cardale' is definitely a real thing among Browns fans," said Sean Pullins, a 35-year-old Cleveland fan whose Twitter handle, @TheKardiacKid, pays homage to the glory days of the 1980s Browns and who has built a following of like-minded fans. "Most of us think we're a QB and a [general manager] Ray Farmer firing away from being a playoff team.

"And by the way, this 6'5", 250-pound quarterback just happens to play at everybody's favorite college, is from Cleveland and plays like Big Ben [Roethlisberger]."

The Browns' issues at football's most important position over the past decade and a half have been well-documented. Since returning to the NFL in 1999, Cleveland has been the home of 22 different starting signal-callers, four of whom the Browns selected with a first-round pick.

There's been Tim Couch, Jeff Garcia, Derek Anderson, Jake Delhomme, Colt McCoy, Brandon Weeden and plenty of other forgettable stopgap passers in between. There's also been Spergon Wynn, Ken Dorsey, Bruce Gradkowski, Thaddeus Lewis, Connor Shaw and no shortage of third-stringers who have found themselves atop Cleveland's depth chart by the end of one merciful season after another.

This year, the Browns enter the season with journeyman Josh McCown being backed up by 2014 first-round pick Johnny Manziel. As Pullins explained, #FailForCardale won't truly hit its stride until each proves he isn't the answer to the question that has plagued the Browns for the past 16 seasons.

But should that be the case—and perhaps it's only inevitable that it will be—watch out.

"Right now, it's probably in a holding pattern because we're a proud group and hold out a slight glimmer of hope that this could be the magical year where it all turns around," Pullins said. "The first three games will determine if #FailForCardale thrives. The Browns have three winnable games against the Jets, Titans and Raiders. If they don't win at least two out of those three, the season is essentially over. Then you'll hear the cries to #FailForCardale get louder.

"We're dopes when it comes to hope and loyalty."

Jones offers plenty of both, however, with his rocket-like arm and Cleveland upbringing—he "gets us," as Pullins put it. But Jones wouldn't be the first hometown hero trying to appease Browns fans: Long after Bernie Kosar quarterbacked Cleveland to three AFC title games in four seasons, Charlie Frye, Brady Quinn and Brian Hoyer all served as Ohio natives taking snaps under center, each of their turns coming to unceremonious ends.

But none of those players were the pro prospect Jones already is after having started just four games in his college career. There's even a more than decent chance Jones would have already landed with the Browns had he opted to enter the 2015 NFL draft following his remarkable three-game run to the national title last winter.

"He would have easily been the third QB drafted," Bleacher Report NFL draft lead writer Matt Miller said of Jones.

In a draft in which Jameis Winston was selected first, Marcus Mariota picked second and no other signal-caller nabbed until the third round, Jones would have made plenty of sense for the quarterback-needy Browns, who owned 12th and 19th picks in last spring's draft.

But Jones opted to return to school for his redshirt junior season with a degree and improved draft stock in mind. And after edging out J.T. Barrett for the Buckeyes' starting job in fall camp, Jones will now have the opportunity to be the first quarterback selected in the 2016 draft.

With one game of his junior campaign in the books, he looks like a player capable of becoming just that.

Jones' stat line against Virginia Tech—9-of-18 passing, 186 yards, two touchdowns and one interception—left something to be desired, although he did add 99 rushing yards and an additional score on 13 carries. Numbers, however, hardly tell the story of the upside of Jones, who appeared impossible to bring down, which gave him more time to show off his cannon of an arm, just as he did in the Sugar Bowl against an Alabama defense loaded with NFL talent.

And for the statistically inclined, it's worth noting Jones' total QBR ranked seventh in the nation for college football's opening weekend, according to ESPN.com. With a schedule that may not see Ohio State truly challenged again until a Nov. 21 matchup with Michigan State, that number only figures to climb in the coming weeks.

After all, there's a reason why Miller currently projects Jones as the No. 3 overall pick in the 2016 NFL draft.

And to who else but the Cleveland Browns?

Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports

Because just as easy as it is to project Jones' ascent, the Browns being in position to pick him next spring would be anything but a surprise. According to BusinessInsider.com, Cleveland's over-under win total for the 2015 season is 6.5, which is lower than all but four teams' totals.

In what is perhaps a fortuitous sign for the Browns, those four teams (the Jacksonville Jaguars, Tennessee Titans, Oakland Raiders and Tampa Bay Buccaneers) have each invested recent draft picks in young quarterbacks, making it unlikely they would use another on Jones—though Cleveland has its own recent investment in Manziel.

Should the Browns be in position to take Jones, he would be an appealing fit, especially considering the pressure that's already building from the fanbase. Whether Jones would reciprocate that feeling remains to be seen.

"I'd like to play in the NFL," Jones told reporters when asked if he'd want to spend his professional career in Cleveland during his trip to training camp last month, via George Thomas of the Akron Beacon Journal.

With Jones playing what will likely be the final season of his college career, a pairing with his hometown team seems like a match made in heaven. #FailForCardale may not be in full swing just yet, but with the Browns kicking off Sunday, it may just be a matter of time.

In Cleveland, when it comes to looking for what's next on the football field, it usually is.

Ben Axelrod is Bleacher Report's Big Ten lead writer. You can follow him on Twitter @BenAxelrod. Unless noted otherwise, all quotes were obtained firsthand. All statistics courtesy of cfbstats.com. Recruiting rankings courtesy of 247Sports.