Dawgs By Nature
In a lost season, Cleveland may as well see what Dorian Thompson-Robinson can do as the starting quarterback.
The Cleveland Browns have questions surrounding the quarterback position that need answering in the coming weeks and months.
The biggest one, of course, is the fate of quarterback Deshaun Watson, who is sidelined for the remainder of the season with a torn Achilles. The Browns owe Watson $46 million in each of the next two seasons, the final ones of his $230 million fully guaranteed contract, so that decision is one for down the road.
Related: Breaking down Dorian Thompson-Robinson’s performance against the Bengals
For now, the Browns need to navigate the final eight games of the season with a not-always-inspiring quarterback room of Jameis Winston, Dorian Thompson-Robinson, and Bailey Zappe.
The Winston roller coaster crashed and burned last Sunday against the Los Angeles Chargers, whose pass defense had no trouble exposing the flaws in Winston’s game. It’s nice, and a bit refreshing after watching Watson be so indecisive in the passing game, to watch Winston make a quick decision and then let it rip. What’s not nice is that those decisions often include throwing the ball directly to an opposing player.
This is Winston’s 10th season in the league and there is no reason to believe he will be anything other than what he has been, so there may not be much value in the Browns riding out the season with him as the starter.
At some point, the Browns should go back to Thompson-Robinson as the starter and see how he responds to consistent playing time. DTR is not the long-term answer at the position, but the season is lost at this point so there is little downside to the move.
The quarterback room should look significantly different after this season, and the more game film the Browns can accumulate on DTR the easier it will be to decide if he is a viable candidate to stick around as the backup quarterback going forward.
Thompson-Robinson needs to do his part, primarily by staying healthy as it seems like every time he plays he ends up getting hurt. First, it was a concussion against the Denver Broncos in Week 12 of the last season, then a hip injury against the Houston Texans in the playoffs, and finally a finger injury in the Week 7 game against the Cincinnati Bengals.
If the Browns decide that is the direction they want to go, the next step is to determine when is the right time to make the move.
Cleveland comes off the bye week with a road game against a fellow two-win team in the New Orleans Saints. While there may be mild interest from some in giving Winston another opportunity to start in a “revenge game” against his former team, turning to DTR sooner rather than later may make more sense.
The game against the Saints is followed just four nights later with a Thursday game against the Pittsburgh Steelers, so if...
