Browns stock report: Signs of life with offense run by Jameis Winston

The Cleveland Browns once again failed to score more than 20 points in its Week 7 bout with the Cincinnati Bengals at home. In the 21-14 loss, Cleveland struggled with Dorian Thompson-Robinson under center after Deshaun Watson went down with an Achilles injury in the first half.

He failed to find the end zone, but did help the team drive down the field following that injury and aided in landing Nick Chubb a touchdown in his first game back in an entire year. After that, though, Thompson-Robinson threw two picks and just looked uncomfortable being thrown into the proverbial fire following Watson going down.

Luckily for him, the team had a third stringer ready and able to take over if he suffered an injury: Jameis Winston. The team's hype man in pregame huddles and veteran quarterback in the locker room came into the game in the fourth quarter following Thompson-Robinson suffering an apparent finger injury and immediately led the team down the field for a touchdown.

Winston's stock is clearly up, while Thompson-Robinson's has unfortunately gone down. Here is Week 7's stock report following another loss.

Stock up: Jameis Winston

Let us start with this positive - Winston looked the part of a solid passer and play executor in Cleveland's loss. He was able to find TE David Njoku in the end zone for a garbage time score, and looked a lot more poised in the pocket compared to Thompson-Robinson who looked shaky and not prepared to stay in the pocket for too long behind a rough offensive line.

Winston should be the team's QB1 moving forward over Thompson-Robinson. With such big holes on the team's offensive line and as the team needs to find stability in Week 8 ahead of another divisional contest versus the Baltimore Ravens, Winston should be thrown under center assuming Winston is done for the season.

Stock down: Dorian Thompson-Robinson

On the flip side of the Watson injury, Thompson-Robinson looked completely unsettled in Week 7 as he struggled to find receivers and escape the pocket. While he seemed great on the run with 44 rushing yards on the afternoon, even those runs looked out of sorts and at times too risky to have attempted.

Thompson-Robinson is still young, and has a ton of time left to prove himself a solid backup QB option for Cleveland. We still have yet to see Winston under center for an extended period of time, and there is no indication of how the team is going to go in Week 8 and beyond. But, Winston may have won himself the starting spot with his late game touchdown to Njoku, while Thompson-Robinson may have lost the job with his two interceptions.

Stock up: Browns Wide receiver room

With Watson likely done for the season and with Winston likely to take over for him, Cleveland's wide receiver room might be looking at a lot more action moving forward in an offense desperate for yardage with a backup quarterback manning the ship. Even in the loss to Cincinnati, WR Cedric Tillman had 81 receiving yards. TE David Njoku had 76 yards and a touchdown on the afternoon. And, TE Jordan Akins and WR Elijah Moore actually saw targets, each going for a hair over 40 receiving yards.

There was a balanced diet of rushing and passing despite the up and down feeling to the game, and that bodes well for a receiver room that has seen a lot of inconsistency with an offense helmed by Watson over the last seven weeks.

Stock down: Browns secondary

One of the biggest losers from Week 7 was by far the secondary for Cleveland. Martin Emerson Jr. continues to struggle to contain...anyone, Greg Newsome II was stepped over by WR Ja'Marr Chase after a touchdown, and Cincinnati's receivers were just running rampant over the zone defense that the Browns attempted and failed to deploy throughout the contest. Even WR Tee Higgins high stepped into a score at the end of the game.

It feels like an effort issue more than anything for this unit. DC Jim Schwartz had challenged them to do more in Week 7, and it feels like they heard him say a "do not" ahead of that plea based on the performance against the Bengals. Allowing two easy touchdowns to QB Joe Burrow who had only thrown for 181 yards on the day just feels impossible, yet that is what the Browns corners achieved.

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