Grading the Cleveland Browns offensive depth
The Cleveland Browns are wrapping up their first organized team activity of the 2022 season. At this point in the team-building process, how does their offensive depth grade out?
With the draft and the bulk of free agency in their rearview, the Cleveland Browns are currently finishing up their first OTA session of the 2022 season. The Browns currently have 90 players on the roster and the competition to 53 is underway.
The Browns have the vast majority of their starters in place, but as we know, a team is only good as its weakest link, aka depth. For every playoff-quality NFL team, depth at crucial positions is vitally important to the team’s overall success. Every team will have its share of injuries and will need their backups to step up in order to keep their season on the rails.
Have the Andrew Berry and the Browns done enough to address their weakest links? How does the Browns offensive positional depth grade out?
Cleveland Browns Quarterback Depth
QB Depth Disclaimer: This article will not feature Baker Mayfield outside of this sentence.
When it comes to the NFL, and arguably in all professional sports, no position is more important to a team’s upper bound limits than that of the quarterback. For the Browns, the depth of the quarterback position takes on special importance this season due to the unknown status of their $230 million man, Deshaun Watson.
Andrew Berry went out this offseason and inked three quarterbacks to contracts. Of course, we have the aforementioned Watson, but the Browns also signed Jacoby Brissett and Joshua Dobbs. Brissett was brought in to be Watson’s primary backup with the forethought of a possible/plausible looming suspension on the horizon.
Brissett is entering his seventh year in the NFL, spending the majority of his time in the league as a backup. From a physical standpoint, Brissett looks the part of a classic NFL quarterback. Listed at 6-foot-4 and 235 pounds, Brissett is a sneaky good athlete that should excel in Kevin Stefanski’s bootleg heavy system.
Brissett has the arm talent and the experience, with 37 NFL starts under his belt, to keep the ship afloat should he need to start for an extended period of time due to a Watson suspension or injury. When scouring for a backup for Watson, Berry and the Browns needed a durable, physical quarterback that could successfully operate within Stefanski’s system. That is exactly what they have in Brissett.
He’s athletic enough to maintain many of the same concepts the team will run with Watson but is also experienced enough to play within the constructs of the offense. Brissett will be surrounded by more talent than he has been at any point in his career should he get the opportunity to be under the center in Cleveland. Because of his supporting cast, Brissett will not be tasked with taking over games but instead asked to just keep it on the rails. However, Brissett is talented enough to go out and win a game in the fourth quarter if the situation arises.
Dobbs was brought in for a myriad of reasons. Not the least of which will be his ability to aid Watson in the quarterback room. Dobbs and Watson share the same quarterback coach in the offseason in Quincy Avery, and that connection could lead to an advanced understanding of technical nuances on both the practice field and in the film room.
Oh yeah, did I mention that Dobbs has a degree in Aerospace Engineering? Having a literal Rocket Scientist in the quarterback room, who can also play if the situation calls for it, could never be considered a bad thing. Overall, the Browns depth at quarterback is among the best in the NFL for the 2022 season.
Quarterback Depth: B+