Jets, Browns kickoff 2023 NFL campaign with Hall of Fame game

NFL football returns for the 2023-24 season Thursday night as the New York Jets take on the Cleveland Browns in the annual Hall of Fame game from Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium in Canton, Ohio.

While Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers and Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson will both wait to make their season debuts with their respective clubs, both teams will get a long look at their backup pivots.

Watch the Browns take on the Jets in the Hall of Fame game LIVE with coverage beginning at 7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT on TSN2, TSN.ca, and the TSN App.

Zach Wilson is expected to get the start for the Jets in his first chance to prove that he is still a legitimate option at the quarterback position.

The former No. 2 overall selection has struggled in his two professional seasons, throwing for 4,022 yards with 15 touchdowns and 18 interceptions in 22 career starts.

Wilson's struggles led to the Jets acquiring Rodgers in the off-season to help shore up the starting quarterback position and to hopefully help mentor Wilson.

"He has played really, really well in camp [and] he's made a number of great throws, he looks confident, fundamentals are improving," Rodgers told reporters on Wednesday. "I think he'll look back years from now and be really thankful for this time to grow, to reset, to take a breath, and it's gonna set him up for a nice long career in the league."

Rodgers understands more than anyone in the league the value of being the understudy to a Hall of Fame quarterback. The 39-year-old pivot spent the first three seasons of his career backing up legendary quarterback Brett Favre with the Green Bay Packers and was able to step in to the starting role seamlessly.

On the other side, the Browns will use the opportunity to see what they have in third-string quarterback Kellen Mond and rookie pivot Dorian Thompson-Robinson since Watson and Joshua Dobbs are locked in as starting and backup quarterbacks.

Mond, 24, was claimed off waivers by the Browns from the Minnesota Vikings in August of 2022 and didn't appear in a game last season.

The 6-foot-3 pivot appeared in one regular-season game in his NFL career and was drafted 66th overall in the 2021 draft by the Vikings.

"Kellen's done a great job," Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski told reporters on Tuesday. "There was a period of just getting to know him early in the season last year. He's done everything we've asked him to do. I've been very impressed with him both in the meeting room and on the practice field."

Thompson-Robinson was the Browns' fifth-round selection (140th overall) in the 2023 draft and the game experience will be key in order for him to claim a roster spot.

"I'm really good when it comes to the cerebral side of football things and being able to grasp a playbook and go out there and execute," Thompson-Robinson told reporters on Tuesday. "But this is my first time having to call plays in the huddle, having to get it [the play call] in a headset and being able to spit it out. And we don't have the shortest play calls."