Everything appeared to be looking up for the Browns. Deshaun Watson had led Cleveland to a massive comeback victory against the AFC North-leading Ravens, and with a game against the Steelers in Cleveland due up Sunday, the Browns (6-3) had a chance to solidify their spot atop the AFC wild-card race.
But as has often been the case in Cleveland, disaster struck. Wednesday morning, it was announced Watson would be undergoing season-ending surgery after an MRI on Monday confirmed a displaced fracture in his right (throwing) shoulder. While Watson reportedly wanted to play through the injury, he took doctors' advice and was to instead undergo surgery and miss the remainder of the 2023 season.
When healthy, Watson had not exactly been the $230 million quarterback the team expected him to be. So far in his Browns tenure, he has completed just 59.8 percent of his passes for 2,217 yards, 14 touchdowns and nine interceptions in 12 games. This year, his numbers have improved only slightly from his six games in 2022, with him having completed 61.4 percent of his passes for 1,115 yards with seven touchdowns and four interceptions. He's also rushed 26 times for 142 yards and a touchdown.
Watson has also been playing largely through injury since injuring his shoulder in a Week 3 game with the Titans. He missed games against the Ravens, 49ers and Seahawks, and played only 12 snaps in Week 7 against the Colts before returning to face the Cardinals.
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The Browns, among four AFC teams currently 6-3, will now have to hope their backup quarterbacks are capable of leading a team with a standout group of receivers and one of the league's best defenses through Cleveland's remaining eight games and into the playoffs.
Who will Cleveland be turning to? Here's what you need to know.
Browns QB depth chart
- Dorian Thompson-Robinson
- P.J. Walker
As of Wednesday, the Browns have a total of two quarterbacks besides Watson on their roster. There are no quarterbacks on the team's practice squad, though that could soon change.
Dorian Thompson-Robinson
Dorian Thompson-Robinson struggled in his first NFL start filling in for Watson, and was quickly replaced moving forward by Walker while the starter recovered. But with Watson out the rest of the year, it appears the Browns are turning to the unknowns of the rookie rather than the veteran to be the starter.
When the season began, it appeared Thompson-Robinson would be the team's backup quarterback. Following the model across the NFL of drafting a rookie QB late to save money on the backup, the Browns selected Thompson-Robinson 140th overall in the fifth round.
Thompson-Robinson had put together a standout career at UCLA, particularly in his redshirt senior year with the Bruins. For his career, he completed 63.3 percent of his passes for 10,710 yards with 88 touchdowns and 36 interceptions, and rushing 471 times for 1,826 yards and scoring 28 times on the ground. His final year, he completed 69.6 percent of his passes for 3,169 yards with 27 touchdowns and 10 interceptions. He rushed 118 times for 645 yards and scored 12 touchdowns.
Heralded by many as a potential draft sleeper, Thompson-Robinson was given trust as the backup quarterback early, with the team trading backup Joshua Dobbs to the Cardinals for a fifth-round pick and cutting Kellen Mond before the preseason. And Thompson-Robinson impressed many with a standout preseason, during which he completed 63.8 percent of his passes for 440 yards with two touchdowns and no interceptions.
MORE: Thompson-Robinson's NFL draft scouting report
But thrust into starting action against the Ravens with Watson injured, Thompson-Robinson struggled mightily, completing only 52.8 percent of his passes for 121 yards with no touchdowns and three interceptions as Cleveland was blown out at home, 28-3.
Dobbs, on the other hand, was solid as the starting quarterback for the Cardinals and has since impressed with the Vikings, leading Minnesota to two wins in his only two appearances with the team. On the year, Dobbs has completed 63.6 percent of his passes for 1,995 passing yards, 11 touchdowns and five interceptions. He's also rushed 62 times for 368 yards and five touchdowns.
P.J. Walker
Walker was the team's starter against the 49ers and Seahawks, and played most of the game against the Colts. So it reasoned to believe he would be the starter moving forward. However, it appears that his lackluster play filling in as the starter has now left him as the second-string QB behind DTR.
Though Walker has led Cleveland to wins over San Francisco and Indianapolis, his numbers are not pretty. In five games (two starts), Walker has completed 49 percent of his passes for 618 yards with a touchdown and five interceptions. He's rushed 12 times for 31 yards.
Despite the lack of success, Walker has been responsible for two game-winning drives, having driven the Browns down the field against the 49ers to kick a game-winning touchdown and then against the Colts, where Kareem Hunt scored a game-winning touchdown.
Walker has been thrust into starting duties before. In a tumultuous 2022 for the Panthers, Walker wound up handling the starting role from Week 6 through Week 10. During that span, he completed 58 percent of his passes for 671 yards with three touchdowns and three interceptions. The Panthers went 2-3 in his starts.
MORE: Revisiting PJ Walker's XFL career
Walker went to college at Temple, where he left as the school leader in passing yards, passing touchdowns, completions, attempts, total yards, total touchdowns and quarterback wins. Out of college, he was an undrafted free agent with the Colts in 2017 and was largely off and on the team's practice squad until 2019, when he was drafted by the Houston Roughnecks in the XFL to be their starting quarterback.
In the XFL, Walker stood out, completing 65 percent of his passes for 1,338 yards with 15 touchdowns and only four interceptions. The Panthers wound up signing him to a two-year contract in March 2020, and he was the team's backup QB for three years before inking a two-year deal with the Bears before the 2023 season. He was released before the season, and signed Aug. 30 to the Browns' practice squad, only being elevated on Sept. 30 before the Browns played the Ravens, the first game without Watson as the starter.
Free agent quarterbacks
It would be understandable with Thompson-Robinson and Walker as the team's only starting-quarterback options that fans might want to look toward the open market for a replacement. However, particularly after the Rams' signing of Carson Wentz, the options aren't great.
The top two quarterback names everyone would look at are both retired: Tom Brady and Matt Ryan. Both have maintained they have no interest in returning to the NFL.
That likely leaves these players as the top quarterbacks available in free agency, according to Spotrac:
| Player | Age |
| Colt McCoy | 36 |
| Joe Flacco | 38 |
| Nick Foles | 34 |
| Bryce Perkins | 26 |
| Chris Streveler | 28 |
McCoy had seemed lined up to be the starter in Arizona until Kyler Murray was healthy, but then Dobbs arrived via trade.
Flacco started four games for the Jets last year amid their quarterback issues, but completed only 57.6 percent of his passes with five touchdowns and three interceptions.
Foles started two games in 2022 for the Colts, but had no touchdowns and threw four interceptions.
Perkins appeared in five NFL games last year and completed 55.9 percent of his passes with a touchdown and two picks before Baker Mayfield arrived in Los Angeles.
Streveler also started for the Jets in 2022 but has completed only 27 of 40 passes in his three years in the NFL with a touchdown and interception, both coming in 2020 for the Cardinals.
Needless to say, the cabinet at this point is a bit bare. And since the Browns didn't make any moves for a backup at the trade deadline, it appears they might be limited to Thompson-Robinson and Walker the remainder of 2023.
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