Brandon Weeden

Brandon Weeden (born October 14, 1983) is an American football quarterback for the Cleveland Browns of the National Football League (NFL). He was drafted as the 22nd overall pick in the 2012 NFL Draft.

He was the starting quarterback for the Oklahoma State Cowboys from 2010 to 2011. In that time, Weeden, along with teammate receiver Justin Blackmon, broke several school passing/receiving records at Oklahoma State.

Early years
Weeden was the starting quarterback at Edmond Santa Fe High School, where he led the team to a victory in the state semifinals in the school's first-ever playoff appearance, and was named team MVP and offensive player of the year. He finished 2nd in the state of Oklahoma in passing yards with 2,863 and accounted for 25 touchdowns. He was also an all-state baseball player and football player. Later on, Weeden graduated from Edmond Santa Fe High School in 2002.

Professional baseball career
A pitcher, Weeden was drafted in the second round of the 2002 Major League Baseball Draft by the New York Yankees as their first selection in the draft. After the 2003 season, he was traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers with Jeff Weaver and Yhency Brazobán for Kevin Brown. Following the 2005 season, he was selected in the Rule 5 draft by the Kansas City Royals. Weeden played his last season of professional baseball in 2006 with the Class-A High Desert Mavericks of the California League. Injuries and a high ERA led to Weeden quitting baseball.

College football career
Weeden enrolled at Oklahoma State in 2007 and redshirted his first year. The following year, in 2008 he appeared in only one game against Missouri State.

In 2009 Weeden played in three games, including one in the absence of injured Zac Robinson on Nov. 19. Alex Cate started the game, but Weeden replaced him at halftime and led the Cowboys to an 11-point comeback victory, 31-28 over Colorado in the nationally-televised Thursday night game.

In 2010 Weeden was named the starter for the Cowboys. In week two Weeden suffered a severe injury to his thumb, which led to two interceptions and two fumbles in a win over Troy. Weeden said, "Hurt thumb, no thumb, whatever, it doesn't matter. I don't care if I don't have a thumb. You've got to take the snaps." He followed that performance by throwing six touchdowns the following week. He was named Big-12 Offensive Player of the Week in the victory over Tulsa.

The win helped move Oklahoma State into the Coaches' Poll top 25 for the first time in 2010. Coach Gundy reflected on the win: "Sometimes, you have games like that. We were rolling on all cylinders." Weeden added, "We had a great week of practice....It was a whole lot of fun tonight."

In his senior season, 2011, he led Oklahoma State to an 11-1 regular season, a number 3 ranking in the BCS standings, and a berth in the 2012 BCS Tostitos Fiesta Bowl. He also broke school records in total attempts, completions, yardage, and touchdowns (all which were previously held by incumbent Coach Mike Gundy). In 12 games, Weeden completed 379 of 522 passes for 4,328 yards.

In the 2012 Fiesta Bowl, the last game of his college football career, Brandon Weeden threw for 399 yards, completed 29 of 42 passes, and had 4 touchdowns (3 passing, 1 rushing) along with one interception in a 41-38 win against the Stanford Cardinal in the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl.

School records
Brandon Weeden set numerous records for passing, and offensive performance at Oklahoma State University, many of which surpassed records set by his college coach, Mike Gundy, when Gundy was a player.


 * Passing Yards, Season - 4,727 (2011)
 * Total Offense, Season - 4,625 (2011)
 * Completed Passes, Season - 408 (2011)
 * Completion Percentage, Season - 72.3 (2011)
 * Passing Yards, Single Game - 502 (2011, versus Kansas State)
 * Completions, Single Game - 47 (2011, versus Texas A&M)

Career accomplishments

 * 2010 All-Big 12 Quarterback, First Team
 * 2010 Player of the Year Award (3rd, behind teammates Kendall Hunter and Justin Blackmon)
 * 2010 Manning Award Finalist
 * 2012 Tostitos Fiesta Bowl Champion (Beat Stanford 41-38)

2012 NFL Draft
Weeden was drafted by the Cleveland Browns with the 22nd pick in the 2012 NFL Draft; the oldest player ever taken in the first round, at 28 years old.

Cleveland Browns
Weeden beat out Colt McCoy for the Browns starting job. In his first game, Weeden had a 5.1 passer rating after throwing four interceptions in a loss to the Philadelphia Eagles, which is the sixth lowest in a season opener by any quarterback attempting at least 15 passes since the merger in 1970. However, one week later, he was much improved throwing for 2 touchdowns, completed 26 passes on 37 attempts for 322 yards, no interceptions with a passer rating of 114.9. During Week 6, Weeden celebrated his 29th birthday by completing 17 passes on 29 attempts for 231 yards and 2 touchdowns en route to his first NFL win by defeating the intrastate rival Cincinnati Bengals. In the Browns victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers in Week 12, Weeden's helmet collided with Joe Thomas' knee, giving him a concussion. Weeden practiced three days later, and played the following week against the Oakland Raiders.

Personal life
In the summer of 2009 he married Melanie Meuser. The couple resides in Stillwater, Oklahoma.