Browns still taking calls on backup quarterbacks

The Browns won’t keep 4 quarterbacks into the season.

On Tuesday, the Cleveland Browns and the rest of the NFL whittled their roster down to 53 men. The process continued throughout the day, with moves leaking out each passing hour. Cleveland carried four quarterbacks into the day and needed to decide on their pecking order, but ended with all three on their initial 53-man roster.

Quarterback Deshaun Watson is the obvious starter, but beyond him, there were three names that fans had a case to end up with in the 53. Tyler Huntley, Dorian Thompson-Robinson, and Jameis Winston have all had separate moments in the NFL, though Winston reached the highest heights of the group.

However, the Browns have been bullish on Thompson-Robinson since they selected him last year. He spot-started several games during his rookie season and had a mixed bag. Thompson-Robinson certainly needed to improve heading into his sophomore season, and team brass felt like he proved he did during training camp and preseason. Cleveland informed Thompson-Robinson that he would make the team on Tuesday, and considering his name was thrown around in trade talks a few short days ago, they could be looking to deal Winston or Huntley.

After the news broke, The Athletic’s Diana Russini reiterated the report that the Browns would “field calls” on Winston and Huntley and see what they could get in return. They likely will keep one on the practice squad for depth, but finding the right deal for one of them could be a nice way to cap off Cleveland’s roster finalization.