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The Cleveland Browns are having a season from hell. Cleveland is 1-6 heading into Week 8 after a costly 21-14 loss against in-state rival Cincinnati. The Browns lost QB Deshaun Watson for the rest of the season during this game with a torn ACL. Cleveland has added a QB from Kansas City's practice squad to help fill the void.
The Browns have signed QB Bailey Zappe off the Chiefs practice squad, per NFL Network's Tom Pelissero via NFL.com.
Watson will miss the rest of the season, which leaves Cleveland with Zappe, Dorian Thompson-Robinson, and Jameis Winston at the QB position. Thompson-Robinson's availability for Week 8 is unknown due to a finger injury he suffered on Sunday. That means that Jameis Winston is likely the starter in Week 8. If Thompson-Robinson is unavailable then Zappe will likely be the backup for Winston.
Bailey Zappe is a solid addition for a Browns team that needs all the bodies they can get at QB. Zappe is a former fourth-round pick by the Patriots who showed some promise during the final games of Bill Belichick's tenure in New England. He was the odd-man-out once the Patriots hired Jerod Mayo, who completely revamped the QB room.
Zappe may not be a wily veteran, but he is a great addition who can step in and play immediately if needed. Considering Cleveland's luck with QB health, that may be needed sooner rather than later.
Browns coach Kevin Stefanski clarifies why he demoted Jameis Winston for Week 7
This puts Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski in an awkward position. Last week Stefanski demoted Jameis Winston, but now he is expected to start in Week 8.
Stefanski further clarified his rationale for the move during Monday's media availability.
“Yeah, kind of like we talked about yesterday, Tony (Grossi), I think going into the season, I felt like both guys were worthy of being the backup quarterback,” Stefanski said. “I told those guys that early in the season. Felt like with not having that short yardage package with Jameis in this last game, felt like Dorian had acquitted himself well in practice and in his preparation to make him the backup. That’s really — that’s the story.”
Stefanski further clarified that he believed that Dorian Thompson-Robinson was ready to backup Deshaun Watson.
“Yeah, I have to be clearer then. So, our ones get all the reps in practice. If there’s a package of plays for a player, he would get those reps in a practice. This was not — the decision to put Dorian as a number two was not because of a certain package of plays. We didn’t have a specific set of plays for Dorian in that game. We made him the backup quarterback so he would serve in that role if there was an injury,” Stefanski concluded.
It will be interesting to see if the Browns can rebound after losing Deshaun Watson for the season.
