Tandem of Brandon Weeden and Greg Little Is the AFC North's Biggest Wild Card

There are a lot of things we don't know about what will happen in the AFC North this season—same as with any other division in the league. But the biggest unknown, the biggest anything-could-happen situation in the entire division, is what may come from rookie Cleveland Browns quarterback Brandon Weeden and his (presumably) No. 1 target, Greg Little.

Rookie quarterbacks are always a gamble. There's no proof that overall No. 1 selection Andrew Luck will become the next Peyton Manning, the same as there's no proof that Weeden cannot. But for both, the learning curve will be sharp, and their first years will be fraught with the usual triumphs and setbacks that rookie quarterbacks experience.

Things will be quite different for Weeden in the NFL. He comes from Oklahoma State's spread offense, which was rife with athletic receivers, to the Browns' complicated West Coast system. Though the Browns only picked up one receiver—Travis Benjamin in the fourth round—they did add others from the undrafted free agent pool, including one of Weeden's Oklahoma State targets, Josh Cooper.

The Browns are also hopeful that Little, as well as Mohamed Massaquoi, will both be reliable, playmaking receiving targets for Weeden despite what we saw out of the two last season. Massaquoi's skills on are the decline, but the biggest unknown of the two is Little.

To say the odds were stacked against Little last season would be an understatement. He spent his final college season on the bench, suspended by the NCAA for improper benefits violations. He was then drafted to the Browns in the second round amidst the league-wide lockout, which prevented him from getting hold of a playbook and deprived him and all other rookies of minicamps and OTAs. 

Little went into his new team about as cold as a receiver could be, but he was tasked with being Colt McCoy's, and then Seneca Wallace's, biggest target in one of the more difficult-to-master offensive schemes in the league.

Though he had the most receiving yards of any Browns player (and the second-most of any rookie receiver last year), he still had just 709 yards and only two scores. And he tied for the second-most drops in the league despite being the 17th-most targeted receiver.

A good deal of Little's struggles can be tied to the accelerated pace in which he had to learn his new offense. Drops are generally suggestive of concentration issues, and Little may have spent the year more preoccupied with running accurate routes and getting his timing down with his quarterbacks that focus on the simple act of making the catch fell by the wayside.

While this offseason should allow him greater opportunity to become more comfortable, he'll have to deal with the very real obstacle of having to work with a brand new quarterback. No receiver knows what kind of chemistry he'll be able to build with the man throwing him passes—even Tom Brady can find a player he can't develop a rhythm with—and it's going to take a lot of practice between Weeden and Little before that can be figured out.

For a team like the Browns, that desperately needs drastic improvement in their passing game almost immediately, it's quite the gamble they're taking on starting Weeden and having Little remain as their No. 1 receiver.

Generally, teams still embroiled in a rebuild like the Browns are would prefer another year of taking the safer route in hopes that the progress already made doesn't get wound backward. However, clearly, the Browns' top brass see something long-term and valuable in Weeden and want to get him on the field in his first season. And they also believe that Little's rookie-year issues will be resolved in the span of one offseason.

With so many unknowns surrounding the Browns' passing game right now, there's simply no bigger question mark in the AFC North than what will become of Weeden-to-Little in 2012.

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