The Cleveland Browns were decimated by injury in the 2023 season, particularly at quarterback. The situation got so bad for the team that they had to call up a previously retired Joe Flacco to come in off his couch and run the team. Things mostly worked out for Flacco and the Browns in the end, as Cleveland made the playoffs as a Wild Card team and Flacco earned the Comeback Player of the Year award for his efforts.
The Browns learned from their mistakes and made a concerted effort in the offseason to address any potential shortcomings at the backup quarterback spot. Flacco may have moved on from the team, but another former Baltimore Ravens player has followed in his footsteps. Tyler Huntley was signed in the offseason to compete for the backup quarterback spot, as was former Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback and former first-round pick Jameis Winston.
While the Browns may have significantly improved the situation behind starter Deshaun Watson, it does likely leave one player, former 2023 fifth-round pick Dorian Thompson-Robinson, on the outside looking in. That makes him a prime trade candidate according to Lorenzo Reyna of Pro Football Network. The NFL analyst recently identified one trade candidate from each team, and “DTR” stands out to him as an obvious choice for the Browns.
It’s not often you talk about a backup quarterback who could wind up a roster cut-down day casualty as “trade bait”, but Thompson-Robinson has some traits that could make him an appealing option for a team to take a flier on. Thompson-Robinson is still young, and he showed flashes of brilliance at UCLA. He’s highly athletic, and any team that has an offense built around a mobile quarterback could use a backup like him to help the offense stay running in the event of an injury.
