Saying Cody Kessler has a chance to be the Cleveland Browns’ franchise quarterback is a foreign concept to many. But it’s not a foregone conclusion the team is ready to move on after he was rushed to action ahead of schedule in 2016.

While Kessler had low expectations as a rookie — many, including myself, felt he was over-drafted in the third round last year — the young quarterback somewhat survived. He even showed some flashes of effectiveness behind an at-times atrocious offensive line. Guard Joel Bitonio returning from injury and standout lineman Kevin Zeitler arriving in free agency will hopefully help keep the young Browns quarterback off the injury report.

In eight starts last season, Kessler shined statistically and was Mr. Cool under pressure, despite losing every one of those starts. He was part of a roster lacking productive players across the board and finished 1-15 overall.

Here’s how he stacked up against other rookie quarterbacks from last year’s class, albeit in that limited sample size, according to Pro Football Focus positional grading:

That isn’t a bad result for a raw player the Browns seemingly wanted to redshirt for his entire rookie season.

Kessler doesn’t sound like a guy Brown, Hue Jackson or the Browns are planning to give up on after a promising rookie campaign. He may not have elite caliber traits in areas like arm strength, but he doesn’t really need it to succeed. It’s important to also add that while his arm is clearly not elite, he did throw 55 MPH at the scouting combine, which is generally considered the velocity threshold for NFL success.

Bypassing a quarterback early and sticking with him may seem crazy, but there’s some sanity on the horizon. The 2017 draft’s first round is absolutely loaded with potential impact players. While it’s assumed the Browns will select elite edge-rushing prospect Myles Garrett with the No. 1-overall pick, they have a number of pressing needs on both sides of the ball they could attempt to fill with the draft’s 12th pick.

The question Cleveland needs to ask itself is whether its top prospects, if available at No. 12 overall, are much further along and have higher trajectories than what they have already seen from Kessler.

Passing on a quarterback early in the upcoming draft would be a declaration the team is much more confident in its young signal-caller than those on the outside believe.

Jackson said after last year’s draft to “trust him” after pegging Kessler as his quarterback.

Maybe that’s what we’ll have to do heading into the 2017 season.