You are a Cleveland Browns fan. You are very devoted and tell everyone when you get a cut, a mixture of orange and brown oozes out.
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You own several Browns caps and a half dozen jackets for every cold-weather situation. There is a Browns decal on at least one window of every vehicle you own, including the one that needs a new transmission in the backyard, and of course, a Browns-related front license plate. You own a Joe Thomas HOF induction ceremony
T-shirt to go with the other two dozen Browns tees. All of your children are Browns fans, although they don’t know why, because they do not remember any winning seasons and have only heard something about eight championships.
There is a Browns flag perched on your front porch, or one underneath your American flag flapping on your flagpole.
And this year, there is one question on your mind: Who will be Cleveland’s starting quarterback this season?
The Browns have had six quarterbacks under contract this year. That does not surprise anyone, because Cleveland set an NFL record last year for starting the most QBs in a two-year stretch by using nine starters – five in 2023, and four in 2024. In the 2023 season alone, they tied a single-season record for most signalcallers to start the calendar year (5), tied with the 1987 New England Patriots.
So, six quarterbacks for one NFL roster? No worries. But still, which one will be behind center come Week 1? That is a subject to be discussed and debated extensively.
Deshaun Watson was expected back, but re-injured his Achilles again, which set back his recovery period. One thing about a fully torn Achilles is that it must fully heal before anybody can expect to play sports again. He had another surgery to repair the second injury, but the re-rupture will likely keep him out for the entire 2025 season.
Watson was then added to the PUP list at the end of July as he continued to recover from the second surgery. Whether he returns this season or not remains uncertain.
The most obvious choice for the starting quarterback role for Week 1 is veteran Joe Flacco. He was signed to be the starter, and so far, none of the other quarterbacks on the roster appear to be ready to lead a team all season for 17 games, except for Flacco.
Kenny Pickett was traded for, but his role seemed more like an experienced backup in case something would occur with Flacco. Pickett has played in 30 games with 25 NFL starts.
Both Dillon Gabriel and Shedeur Sanders are rookies, and having a good camp is exciting and encouraging. These two have started one preseason game each, and although they have different styles and mannerisms, each played well. But consider this: both rookie QBs played mainly against second-team defenders. It is difficult to imagine seeing either in a real game against a number-one defense at this point. Like against that Baltimore Ravens defense? Geez. Perhaps one of these two may get into a game later in the season, or most likely, next year is the most advantageous scenario for both the team and the players.
The scene was set: Flacco the starter with Pickett the former first-round draft pick at the ready, with two developmental guys waiting their turn and soaking up as much as they can from the veterans.
But as Cleveland quarterbacks go, there was a cog throw into the mix. Pickett sustained a hamstring injury, which is nasty damage to get at any time in an athlete’s life. And the timing was terrible, during training camp with a new team and a new offense, when he was fighting for a starting role? Or at least have this opportunity to prove himself worthy to run this offense in games that count.
Now, the coaching staff was faced with giving the backup job to either Gabriel or Sanders, or try to wait out Pickett to see if he could return to the field. He has returned to practice sessions, but has been limited to individual drills and isn’t involved in full team practices.
Note to self: the season opener is September 7. Does the coaching staff have that much patience with Pickett taking it one day at a time for such a short stretch before the first game? Yikes.
Certain media outlets have stated, “Browns QBs: Joe Flacco vs Shedeur Sanders vs Kenny Pickett vs Dillon Gabriel comes to an end” as the coaching staff announced that a starter for Week 1 would be announced this week before the final preseason game against the Los Angeles Rams on Saturday.
And this year, instead of asking who will be Cleveland’s starting quarterback this season, the most important query happens to be: Who will be Cleveland’s backup quarterback this season?
Because that scenario happens every season.
The solution
There is one QB that nobody is considering in all of this: Tyler Huntley.
Huntley is another seasoned veteran, having played in 25 games with 14 starts. He is a Pro Bowler. His career completion ratio is 64.6%. He has an average rush of 4.6 yards per carry and has converted 48 first downs with his legs.
He was in Browns camp last season, and when he was waived just after the final cutdown, many fans and observers complained that Cleveland should have kept him because backup Jameis Winston was considered a turnover machine, while Watson was injury-prone, and Donovan Thompson-Robinson (DTR) was raw. Each of these scenarios became true last year.
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Huntley had spent his entire NFL career with Baltimore, backing up league MVP Lamar Jackson. He is intelligent and has a high football IQ.
He graduated from high school with a 3.32 GPA, and passed for 9,053 yards and 106 touchdowns. As a senior, he was voted First Team All-State 6A and was named the Florida Gatorade High School Player of the Year.
The offers came each week as he chose Utah. After breaking his collarbone in his junior campaign, a lot was expected of Huntley for his senior season. He started all 14 games and had 220 completions from 301 attempts with 19 TDs with just four interceptions, and added 104 carries for 290 yards with five rushing TDs.
Huntley ranked second in the FBS and first in the Pac-12 in completion percentage and battled Heisman winner Joe Burrow at the top of the FBS rankings for completion percentage (73.1%). He was a finalist for the Unitas Golden Arm Award plus the Manning Award, and a semi-finalist for the O’Brien Award, Lombardi Award, and Walter Camp Player of the Year. He also got an invite to the East-West Shrine Game.
Flacco, Jackson, and Huntley are all interconnected. Flacco was the Ravens’ starting quarterback who led that franchise to a Super Bowl win and was named the game’s MVP. In 2013, Flacco became the highest-paid quarterback in NFL history when he signed a six-year contract worth $120.6 million.
Baltimore drafted Jackson in Round 1, who eventually took over as the starter in 2018 when Flacco suffered a hip injury. From that moment on, the job was Jackson’s. The Ravens then traded Flacco to the Denver Broncos. In 2020, Huntley was brought on board to become Jackson’s backup.
Keep five quarterbacks?
Tuesday, August 27 at 4:00 p.m. (Eastern), is the final cutdown day for NFL clubs. The Browns will have a hard decision in regards to the QB room.
They may want to keep all five. Traditionally, every NFL team retains just three, including Cleveland. They could keep four, then one day later, place one of them on IR, which would mean they could bring that player back in four weeks. At that point, another club will either have issues with their starter or the main backup and will want to upgrade. The Browns could then trade the guy who they placed on IR and end up with the trio they wanted.
But consider this: If Flacco were to become injured, who is comfortable with either Gabriel or Sanders starting the remainder of the year?
Remember, just a short few years ago, when rookie fifth-round pick DTR was the darling of the preseason, then was inserted for the injured Watson against the Ravens at home in just Week 4? He went 19-36 for just 121 yards, threw three interceptions, and was sacked four times. He ended up with a QB rating of 25.3 in the 28-3 loss as the offense had its worst output all season.
The point is, it is rare when a rookie quarterback can come in and look like he did in his senior year of college. You don’t go from cooking at Wendy’s to being the head chef on the cooking staff that is preparing a banquet for a visiting head of state. Things that are difficult need time.
Huntley is an upgrade from Pickett. He should be installed as the primary backup.
Flacco is very durable and rarely gets hurt. He has not missed many games in his 17-year career because of being wounded. The majority of games he has missed were because he was benched or was no longer the starter than because of being incapacitated.
But Flacco does cough up the ball. What Browns fan can forget the two pick-sixes in the playoff game against the Houston Texans in 2023 when the squad had fought and clawed its way to an 11-win season and was the highest AFC playoff seed? Just weeks earlier, Cleveland had dominated those same Texans. Not only two interceptions in that contest, but also picks that were cashed in for six points each just decimated the Browns in that game.
And if you have paid attention as a devoted Browns fan so far in the preseason, Huntley has been getting plenty of reps in both of the exhibition games. In fact, he is the only QB to play in each contest.
Against the Philadelphia Eagles this past weekend, Huntley went 10-13 (76.92%) for 71 yards. Although he did not throw a touchdown pass, he was sacked just once. Gabriel went 13-18 (72.22%) for 143 yards. In comparison with snap counts, Huntley had 28 to Gabriel’s 38. Gabriel had one interception and one fumble lost, while Huntley did not turn the ball over. Huntley’s QB rating was 88.9 compared to Gabriel’s 72.2.
While Gabriel was under center, the Browns scored 12 points off of a 13-play drive that resulted in a four-yard run by RB Ahmani Marshall, a 46-yard field goal by Dustin Hopkins after a 10-play drive, and then a 6-play drive that culminated with a 49-yard field goal by Andre Szmyt.
In the drives orchestrated by Huntley, the results were punt, punt, punt, downs, a seven-play drive that ended with Szmyt nailing a 33-yard FG, then the Browns needing to run out the clock with 3:31 left in the game, which Huntley was successful in doing in five plays, including a seven-yard dash by Huntley.
On to the Panthers game.
Sanders was the starter and played far into the second half. He had 47 snaps compared to 22 for Huntley. Huntley went 6-8 (75.0%) for 51 yards with one touchdown, no picks, and was sacked once. Sanders went 14-23 (60.87%) for 138 yards with two touchdowns, no picks, and was sacked twice.
At the end of the game, Sanders had a QB rating of 106.8 while Huntley finished with a 130.7 rating.
Huntley’s numbers are better so far than both the rookies, and he has NFL experience with one Pro Bowl nod. Please, let’s not go into this season with either a wounded backup QB or a newbie.
It isn’t Pickett who is the Wild Card in the QB room, or either one of the rookies; it is Huntley.
