Browns trade for Kenny Pickett, move DTR

       The Cleveland Browns didn't leap into action on the first day of free agency as it was more of a short jaunt with the surprising acquisition of quarterback Kenny Pickett from the Philadelphia Eagles.

Cleveland traded reserve quarterback Dorian Thompson-Robinson and a fifth-round draft pick which originally belonged to the Detroit Lions and was obtained for Za'Darius Smith at the trade deadline, for Pickett, who will turn twenty-seven in June.

Pickett was the first-round selection by the Steelers in the 2022 draft and started twelve games in each of his two seasons as a Steeler.

Pickett won fourteen of those starts but threw thirteen interceptions with thirteen touchdowns and was viewed as a disappointing selection with Pittsburgh trading Pickett to the Eagles before last season with a fourth-rounder in 2024 in return for a 2024 third-rounder and two 2025 seventh-round choices.

Pickett appeared in five games (two touchdowns, one interception, two hundred ninety-one yards) for the Eagles championship-winning squad, starting the season's final game against Dallas, winning a meaningless game to avoid injury to Jalen Hurts.

Dorian Thompson-Robinson was the Browns fifth-round selection in 2023 and started five games in two seasons as a Brown, throwing one touchdown and a jaw-dropping ten interceptions.

Thompson-Robinson completed only fifty-two percent of his pass attempts and showed an inability to get the football downfield, so with the Browns tossing in the towel on the DeShaun Watson regime, Thompson-Robinson's skills aren't in sync with whomever the Browns would decide to start at quarterback next season.

The Browns basically traded Dorian Thompson-Robinson and a few games of Za'Darius Smith for Kenny Pickett and while those few games weren't a loss, trading a fifth-rounder  (even if it is near the end of the round) seemed a bit much, especially when the Browns are expected to add a few compensation picks in the sixth round, which would have been a bit more palatable.

I'm assuming the Browns are bringing Kenny Pickett in as a backup and not as a challenger for the starting position, so the trade is nothing I'm going to scream about, especially since Cleveland found a taker for Dorian Thompson-Robinson.

Under these circumstances, I'm okay with the trade, although not in love with it because of the loss of the fifth-round draft pick.

I don't expect to see Kenny Pickett taking many snaps for the Cleveland Browns but if he is things are really problematic in Cleveland.

Bengals claw Browns 24-6

     Jerome Ford raced sixty-six yards on the Cleveland Browns' first offensive play to the Cincinnati Bengals eleven-yard line.

Alas, Don'ta Foreman fumbled before he reached the end zone to end the drive and the Browns would finish the first half with a little over twenty yards of offense (other than Ford's run) for the first half in a 24-6 loss to the Bengals.

Jerome Ford finished with ninety-two yards rushing and the Browns only touchdown to lead the Cleveland offense, which started Dorian Thompson-Robinson and was rewarded with a Watsonesque one hundred fifty-seven passing yards and two interceptions.

Cleveland slips to 3-12 in defeat and will play their final home game next week against the 7-8 Miami Dolphins.

Brownie Bits

1) During the CBS broadcast, sideline reporter Aditi Kinkhabwala reported that she had spoken with Jimmy Haslam before the game and that Haslam was overwhelming in his praise towards Kevin Stefanski and Andrew Berry and that the Browns won't be making any front office changes.

2) When you watch something this dreadful in such a painful season and that's the news that breaks?

It's just head-shaking in how utterly lost this franchise currently is.

3) Myles Garrett's sack of Joe Burrow was number one hundred for his career, which gave Garrett the honor of being the youngest player to reach that number.

Earlier this year, Garrett became only the second player (Lawrence Taylor) ever to finish with over ten sacks for five consecutive seasons.

4) I'm not against the Browns starting Dorian Thompson-Robinson in the final two games of the season.

The Browns need to earn draft position and then pray that Andrew Berry is somehow unable to reach the draft room in any capacity to do anything smart but the first step of the journey is be as bad as you can 

5) Can we please dispose of the narrative that the Browns "Need to see what they have in DTR" now?

It's not hard to see what they have- a strong runner without a good arm, slight frame, gets knocked around easily, and tries to make plays with his legs which often results in turnovers.

DTR is the type of player that dazzles in pre-season against lesser talented opponents but his shortcomings are glaring when he plays in regular season games and with his style, I'm fine with him as a third quarterback if your wagon is hitched to a DeShaun Watson type passer.

If you don't use that type of quarterback, DTR, I hear Winnipeg is lovely at this time of the year.

6) The Jerome Ford run on the Browns first offensive play for sixty-six yards was over three times the number of yards the Browns would gain for the remainder of the first half.

7) Don'ta Foreman fumbled the football inches away from crossing the goal line to ruin the first Browns drive.

Interesting note on Foreman, he's been healthy and Cleveland had used him on the inactive list for the previous five games.

8) The constant talk about Jerry Jeudy's leap in production should now cease as Jeudy finished with only two catches for twenty yards but the takeaway for me was that Jeudy was only thrown to three times.

The common thread? No Jameis Winston.

9) The off-season extension to Dustin Hopkins continues to age poorly.

Hopkins, who was given last week off to work on his mechanics, had one attempt in Cincinnati and he missed an extra point.

10) The Browns did have one chance to get back into the game as Dorian Thompson-Robinson scored a touchdown on a scramble but Jordan Akins was called for holding to negate the score.

Thompson-Robinson was hit as he threw later in the drive, tossed up a floater that softly fell into the waiting arms of the Bengals Jordan Battle.

11) I'm looking for positives and I found one in the Browns pass rush as they sacked Joe Burrow four times but the real positive was the play of Michael Hall and Isaiah McGuire, who each collected a sack.

Hall had personal problems after Cleveland drafted him in round two this past draft and only now reaching the field with regular snaps while McGuire was a player I really liked after the Browns took him in round four of the 2023 draft.

Hopefully both will receive lots of playing time in the final two games.

12) Finally from the That's So Browns department.

The Browns have stopped the Bengals late in the first half and the Bengals are running the punt team onto the field, figuring Kevin Stefanski will call a timeout.

Stefanski doesn't and runs the time down to a few seconds.

Now the Bengals have nothing to lose on the last play of the half and send in Cade York (Yes, THAT Cade York) to attempt a fifty-nine yard field goal, which of course York nails.

That's so Browns when Cade York connects from fifty-nine yards and the guy the Browns extend misses his only kick on an extra point.

Browns bucked in Denver 29-12

 The Cleveland Browns suffered injuries in the second half and continued a disturbing trend with their receivers dropping passes as the Browns were defeated in Denver by the homesteading Broncos 29-12.

Dorian Thompson-Robinson threw the first touchdown of his career and 134 passing yards before leaving the game in the second half with a concussion from a hit from Denver's Baron Browning.

Jerome Ford rushed for sixty-five yards on nine carries to lead the offense for Cleveland.

Cleveland falls to 7-4 and will play the Los Angeles Rams in Los Angeles next Sunday.

Brownie Bits

1) The biggest issue of all the issues that seem to be piling up is the receivers dropping the ball.

Cleveland dropped five passes in the second half with David Njoku dropping multiple passes for the second week in a row and the most notable drop from Amari Cooper, who dropped a wide-open pass from Dorian Thompson-Robinson on a two-point conversion that would have tied the game in the third quarter.

No matter which of their three current quarterbacks play, the Browns offense isn't good enough to afford the drops from accurate passes.

2) Dorian Thompson-Robinson's stats weren't glittering (14/29 134 yards 1 TD 0 INT) but he was hurt by drops, and he avoided making the mistake that gets you beaten.

I'm not saying Cleveland wins this game before his injury but the Browns were down by only two and hadn't made mistakes to that point.

3) I didn't think the hit by Baron Browning was a dirty hit but it was a penalty.

Browning led with his shoulder which isn't a dirty hit but he did make contact helmet to helmet which as Sam Wyche said on an NFL Films segment " he hit him in the head and that is a penalty".

4) After the injury to Thompson-Robinson, here came P.J. Walker, and while Walker didn't get intercepted, he did almost everything else wrong in completing six of thirteen and getting sacked four times.

I'm not sure of Thompson-Robinson playing next Sunday (I'd bet he won't be ready) and the decision will have to be made early on whether to give Joe Flacco a crash course or try to squeeze one more game out of Walker.

Neither option is overly appealing.

5) The offensive line didn't allow Thompson-Robinson to be sacked but they allowed four sacks of P.J. Walker in a little over a quarter.

Walker isn't a mobile quarterback and Denver was able to rush with abandon because they knew the Browns had to throw but it does cause concern about how the Browns will protect the granite-like Flacco in the pocket.

6) Denver entered the game with the league's worst run defense and considering the circumstances for the Browns, running the ball would have seemed the best plan.

Cleveland had success with Jerome Ford and Kareem Hunt combining for eighty-seven yards on sixteen carries but they didn't commit to runs between the tackles often enough and as a result, Denver was able to avoid the big run out of the backfield as only one run was longer than nineteen yards.

7) Kevin Stefanski has done a pretty good job this season (Seattle aside) but twice in this loss, Stefanski's need to be clever cost them.

The first was another cutie package with Harrison Bryant taking snaps on a fourth and one near midfield with Bryant fumbling the ball with the Broncos recovering.

It didn't lead to points for Denver but it did kill a Cleveland drive.

8) And the Stefanski moment that serves as the epitaph for his Browns tenure- starting the fourth quarter and it is the second play for P.J. Walker on a second and seven on the Cleveland forty-one, Denver leads by two.

Stefanski calls a double reverse with Pierre Strong and Elijah Moore which results in a fumble, Denver recovers, and four plays, and eighty-five seconds later, Denver scores a touchdown and the game is essentially over then and there.

Granted P.J. Walker didn't fumble but a play such as that takes timing and precision (and it was the only touch of the game for Pierre Strong while I'm at it), so I don't see how the time was right for such a play call.

It's the biggest black mark on Stefanski, the need to show his brilliance that pops up at the worst possible time.

9) Myles Garrett played much of the game with a shoulder that hung by his side for most of the second half.

Garrett left the stadium with his arm in a sling and is undergoing an MRI today to reveal any possible damage.

It goes without saying that losing Garrett would be a devastating loss that might be the final straw in what the Browns can come back from.

10) Jeremiah Owosu-Koramoah played very well and seemed to be in or around every play, finishing with seven solo tackles, a sack, a tackle for loss, and several assisted tackles.

Drafted as the "antidote" for the Browns' problems with Baltimore quarterback Lamar Jackson, JOK is capable of so much when he is healthy and allowed to run to the football, which in the Joe Woods scheme in the past, he wasn't always allowed to do with his responsibilities.

11) Finally, I thought Denver was a tough out with the Broncos' recent run of improved play, playing in Mile High, and with a rookie quarterback, so I'm not totally disappointed by the loss.

The key is now beating the Rams in Los Angeles this Sunday.

The 5-6 Rams have won their last two games, both since Matthew Stafford returned from injury, and are just one game out of the playoffs behind 6-5 Minnesota and Seattle, so they have plenty to play for and won't be an easy win.

The Browns needed to split the two games out West, this one is more important than one may have thought a week or two ago with a home game against the AFC South-leading 8-3 Jacksonville Jaguars following the Rams, a loss in California would drop the Browns to 7-5 and perhaps in full panic mode.

We will see on Sunday. 

Browns beat Steelers late 13-10

  Dustin Hopkins kicked a thirty-four-yard field goal with two seconds remaining to give the Cleveland Browns a 13-10 win over the Pittsburgh Steelers in Cleveland.

The field goal capped a final drive that started with 1:18 remaining in the game and the Browns with the ball at their own thirty-five-yard line.

Dorian Thompson-Robinson threw for 185 yards and an interception but completed four passes on the game-winning drive and Jerome Ford rushed for the Browns only touchdown.

Cleveland improved to 7-3 with the win and will travel to Denver for next week's game against the Broncos.

Brownie Bits

1) The defense controlled a bad Steeler offense for most of the game and stepped up on the next-to-final Steeler possession, which looked like a typical Steelers-Browns game with Pittsburgh pulling the game out.

Pittsburgh started on their own forty-eight and after a first play that gained twelve yards on a Kenny Pickett pass to George Pickens, the Browns forced two incomplete passes and Ogbo Okoronkwo tackled Najee Harris for a loss of five yards to make Pittsburgh punt.

2)  Pittsburgh avoided an early disaster when Myles Garrett tackled Kenny Pickett in what looked like on replay to be a safety.

The ruling was that Pickett got the football out of the end zone but replays showed that had Kevin Stefanski challenged the play, it may have been overruled.

3) Dorian Thompson-Robinson didn't throw for many yards, although more than Kenny Pickett. but his coolness on the final drive allowed the Browns to move down the field quickly but not with desperation.

I'll reserve judgment until I see DTR in a road game or two but he looked far more poised with a week of practice time than he did starting against Baltimore on short notice and did so against an excellent defense.

4) Dorian Thompson-Robinson wasn't helped by an erratic performance from David Njoku, who dropped several passes from the rookie.

Njoku was thrown to fifteen times with the tight end catching seven of those for fifty-six yards and it looks like Njoku is going to be a major security blanket for Thompson-Robinson for the remainder of the season.

5) The Cleveland defense was the standout and other than the seventy-four-yard jaunt by Jaylen Warren, kept the Steelers out of the end zone.

The Steelers did have success running the ball in the second half and that makes me wonder how the defense will be as the season plays out as they wear down.

6) What a game from Ogbo Okoronwko, who finished with a sack and four tackles for loss including the key play mentioned above on Najee Harris.

Okoronwko was expected to be seeing more time opposite Myles Garrett and while his snaps didn't decrease, he did receive a change in role when the Browns were able to acquire Za'Darius Smith.

7) Myles Garrett finished with two sacks to Pittsburgh's T.J. Watt's one on the day in a sub-game within the game that fans of both players and teams always seem to pay attention to when the two teams play.

I've always thought that peak Garrett is a smidge better than peak Watt but Watt reaches those peaks more often throughout the season.

8) The Browns may have lost safety Rodney McLeod for the season as he left the field with a biceps injury.

Those injuries rarely are minor and with the Browns struggling already with injuries at the position to Juan Thornhill, Cleveland could be looking to sign a veteran free agent.

Former Ohio State standout Ronnie Hickman played in McLeod's absence but the Browns may not want to risk playing the rookie as the starter if they can find a viable option.

9) The problem that I see happening for the Browns with Dorian Thompson-Robinson is the current (not always) problem of getting the ball downfield to make the defenses respect more than just short passes.

The Browns didn't complete a pass longer than eighteen yards in the game.

10) The running game didn't produce big numbers against a tough Pittsburgh run defense but it was successful in short yardage in important situations with Kareem Hunt.

It will be important for that to continue against teams that will score more points than the woeful Pittsburgh offense.

11) After the game, the Browns announced the signing of veteran quarterback Joe Flacco to the practice squad and while I suspect Flacco is being counted on as a mentor for Dorian Thompson-Robinson, I wouldn't be surprised to see Flacco start before this season ends.

At 38, Flacco is a statue in the pocket and you have to provide him protection but he hasn't lost his arm strength so I could see the Browns needing a strong arm but I've always been a proponent of backup QBs having similar styles to the starter and Flacco to the Browns quarterbacks are diametrically opposed in styles.

Browns offensive in 28-3 loss

   DeShaun Watson announced before the game that his ailing shoulder wasn't strong enough for him to play against the Baltimore Ravens and with that disappeared any hope of a home victory as the offense did next to zilch in a 28-3 loss at home.

Late starter Dorian Thompson-Robinson threw three interceptions and only 121 yards passing in the defeat.

Pierre Strong ran for forty yards on a  garbage time run to finish with forty-nine yards rushing as the offensive "star".

Cleveland falls to 2-2 and will be off next week before hosting unbeaten San Francisco in two weeks.

Brownie Bits

1) DeShaun Watson tried to throw a few passes in pre-game warmups and at the conclusion of those attempts, Watson was declared unavailable.

Watson hadn't practiced all week but was expected to play and his inactivity forced the Browns to throw Dorian Thompson-Robinson to the wolves or Ravens if you will.

2) Kevin Stefanski says that Watson's shoulder is "structurally sound" and he expects Watson to play in two weeks vs San Francisco.

Stefanski better be right because another outing from Thompson-Robinson like today and it means 2-3 with four of the five games at home.

3) It's tough to blame Dorian Thompson-Robinson for his performance under the circumstances but it does bring two points to mind.

The first is how little preseason performance has to do with preparation for untested quarterbacks.

Thompson-Robinson dazzled in the preseason against players who are now sitting on benches or unemployed but it should have had no bearing on the decision below.

4) This isn't to say that I think Joshua Dobbs would have done any better today than DTR but it's apparent that Andrew Berrt erred in not having an experienced backup behind DeShaun Watson on the roster and no, I'm not counting P.J. Walker.

While I fully support the idea of having a backup with a similar style as the starter and I also liked the Browns getting a fifth-rounder for Dobbs, considering that they may have decided to let him go anyway.

However, the decision to go into such a pivotal season with this situation seems foolhardy at this point.

It didn't have to be Dobbs but it should have been someone better able to handle a situation such as today.

5) Dorian Thompson-Robinson didn't play well but his offensive line didn't help as the young passer was sacked four sacks, hit more than that, and committed several penalties that stopped some of the few big plays that the Browns did come up with.

6) The Browns offensive day started bad and got worse as on their first offensive play, Jerome Ford ripped off a twenty-six-yard gain that was nullified by a holding call on Amari Cooper.

The twenty-sux yards equaled the total that Ford would amass all day on nine carries.

7) Thompson-Robinson tried to hit Amari Cooper but completed just one of six attempts to the veteran receiver,

8) Elijah Moore was acquired with the idea of getting the ball into his hands in the open field and for use in gadget plays but so far these have been ineffective.

The Browns tried a run play once with Moore, but Moore was unable to turn the corner and kept running backward.

Only an effort by Moore to gain something back allowed the play to lose "only" twenty yards.

9) I know lots are stating the defense was overrated but I'm not ready to go that far yet.

The defense was on the field almost the whole game and worn down, it is tough to make plays when you are that exhausted.

10) Two of the Ravens four touchdowns were drives of ten and thirty-eight yards.

Short-field touchdowns aren't excused but it does put the score in context.

Browns trade Joshua Dobbs

    As teams near the final weekend of the pre-season and the final roster cuts on Tuesday, the Cleveland Browns traded veteran backup quarterback Joshua Dobbs to the desperate Arizona Cardinals in a trade that the Browns nor Dobbs saw coming when the veteran returned to Cleveland as a free agent signing in the off-season.

Cleveland, a team that is always searching for draft capital after two drafts and one more to go as the Browns are still paying the Houston Texans for DeShaun Watson, acquired the Cardinal's fifth-rounder in the 2024 draft in return for Dobbs and the Browns' seventh-rounder in 2024.

Dobbs signed with the Browns last season as a backup to Jacoby Brissett and was released after the return of DeShaun Watson from his suspension before signing with Tennessee, where Dobbs started the final two games of the Titans season.

Dobbs was pursued by the Browns as a free agent after Brissett signed with Washington in the off-season as Cleveland was looking to backup DeShaun Watson with a veteran with a similar playing style and with Dobbs and Watson knowing each other last season, it seemed to be a good fit.

And I think it could have been but the Cardinals are in critical need of a quarterback with Kyler Murray expected to miss much and possibly all of the upcoming season and with only aging former Brown Colt McCoy and fifth-round draftee Clayton Tune available, Arizona felt that a fifth-rounder for Dobbs was a fair price to pay for a player that could be their starter for much of the 2023 season.

The Browns also didn't expect to see the strong performance of their own fifth-round quarterback Dorian Thompson-Robinson in pre-season, throwing for over three hundred yards, two touchdowns, completed over sixty-five percent of his passes, and didn't throw an interception, so Thompson- Robinson's play allowed the Browns to feel comfortable enough to trade Dobbs.

Cleveland had waived Kellen Mond earlier in the week and recalled him to the team after trading Dobbs, so the trade with Arizona must have come together very quickly or the Browns wouldn't have waived Mond.

Mond's status is far from secure, however, as the Browns will likely look closely at the quarterbacks that are released next week.

The Browns now have the following 2024 draft picks: second, third, two picks in both round five and round six, and a pick in round seven. 

Browns select Dorian Thompson-Robinson

  The Cleveland Browns possessed two fifth-rounders, both early in the round and so close together that only the Minnesota Vikings selected between the two Cleveland choices.

I always like to see teams take quarterbacks on the third day of the draft, even if they don't always need them.

It creates depth, creates competition, and on occasions even can produce a starter, whether that's for the team that drafts them or for another team in need down the road.

With the first of the two choices, Cleveland took a quarterback in UCLA's Dorian Thompson-Robinson.

Thompson-Robinson holds the UCLA program record for passing yards and touchdowns, has a strong arm, and produced a solid senior year after many thought he would declare for the 2022 draft, throwing for over 3,100 yards, rushing for over 600 yards, throwing twenty-seven touchdowns and running for twelve more.

The only real knock on Thompson-Robinson is his occasional tendency to hurry his throws and move prematurely in the pocket but much of this comes from that he really hasn't played that much football, having served as a backup to former high school phenom Tate Martell.

Thompson-Robinson has a certain raw quality to him, he will need lots of time and work, and more players of his experience don't make it in the league than prove to be successful but I think he'll stick with the Browns for 2023.

Let me tell you what I really like about this pick.

For years, I've complained that so many teams will give their starting quarterback spot to a player and then use a player with an entirely different skill set as his backup and then wonder why the team struggles with the backup performing with a team that has been built around what the starter can do.

I've never thought that makes a lot of sense and whether you like Dorian Thompson-Robinson as a prospect or not or if you think Joshua Dobbs is a true NFL quality backup quarterback or not, give the Browns credit for placing quarterbacks in their room that have many of the same qualities and attributes, which should give the team a better chance to succeed in the event of an injury to the starter.

That's only smart thinking and it's good to see for the hype over the Browns, who all too often think they are the smartest people in the room, and "analytics" that Cleveland's thinking on this is correct.