Huntley, DTR make pitch for third QB job in Browns preseason finale | Jeff Schudel

Two words come to mind when the subject is preseason NFL games:

“Why bother?”

The Browns on Aug. 24 played their third and final practice game this summer when they faced the Seahawks at Lumen Field in Seattle. For the record, the Seahawks edged the Browns, 37-33.

The only benefit of preseason games is for players trying to make the bottom of the roster to show why they belong. To that end, Dorian Thompson-Robinson and Tyler Huntley each made a case for being the third quarterback behind Deshaun Watson and Jameis Winston.

Thompson-Robinson hooked  up with rookie wide receiver Jamari Thrash on a 46-yard touchdown strike in the second quarter. DTR completed 11 of 20 passes for 115 yards and the touchdown.

Huntley played the second half and responded with a six-yard touchdown toss to James Proche in the third quarter, a 12-yard TD pass to Michael Woods in the fourth and a 15-yard touchdown pass with eight seconds to play. His best throw was a 37-yard connection with Jaelon Darden. Huntley finished 17 of 22 for 146 yards and three touchdown passes. Neither quarterback threw an interception.

Huntey or DTR — one of them will likely be traded before rosters are cut to 53 at 4 p.m. Aug. 27. Maybe as soon as Aug. 25.

When teams played four practice games, the third game was usually a tune-up for the regular season starters. The starters would sit out the first two games, play a half and maybe a series in the third quarter of the third game, then get the rest of the night off and not play in the fourth game.

Watson did not take a snap in any of the preseason games. He isn’t alone. Dak Prescott, starting quarterback for the Dallas Cowboys, did not take a snap in any of the three Cowboys preseason games, either. The Browns will host the Cowboys on Sept. 8 in the regular season opener.

The list of other Browns starters who did not play in any of the preseason games is long; Amari Cooper, Jerry Jeudy, David Njoku, Joel Bitonio, Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah and Myles Garrett to name a few.

The odd thing about not playing starters at least for one half in the preseason is teams practice less than they did before the 2011 collective bargaining agreement ended two-a-day practices. Currently, teams practice three consecutive days in training camp then have a mandatory day off.

Watson could have played against the Seahawks. He experienced arm soreness in practice Aug. 21, but was fine by Aug. 22. Keeping him on the sideline in Seattle made sense, though, because the Browns were down to their fourth-string left tackle in Germain Edifi. Rookie Zak Zinter started at left guard with Bitonio not playing,

The caution proved wise when Winston was sacked for 10 yards on the Browns’ first possession. Winston was uninjured and also unimpressive in two possessions. He had a chance to connect with Thrash for a touchdown on fourth-and-2 from the Seattle 12, but he overthrew the rookie in the end zone.

So will Watson be ready to lead the Browns in two weeks? That’s all that really matters. The Browns replaced Alex Van Pelt with Ken Dorsey as offensive coordinator to bring out the best in Watson in his third year in Cleveland. Watson’s injury problems are behind him.

“He’s had a really strong camp, a really strong spring,” General Manager Andrew Berry said on the pregame show on WEWS, the station that televised the game in Northeast Ohio. “I think the way we look at the quarterback position, or really all of our starters, we get a lot of really good work, good live work in training camp, and then with the (two) joint practices with the Vikings.

“We actually like those settings maybe a little bit better (than preseason games) because it’s a little bit more of a controlled environment in terms of getting some un-scouted looks so to speak, while also minimizing the injury risk for our players. We feel very good about him navigating in a game setting and we’re looking forward to him starting the regular season. We think it’ll be just fine.”

Berry also had a positive report on injured tackles Jedrick Wills and Jack Conklin. Both are on the Physically Unable to Perform list recovering from 2023 knee surgery.

“We feel good about how that group is coming along,” Berry said in the WEWS interview. “We do expect some of our guys to come back over the next week or two.

“And quite honestly, it’s been good work for young players such as Zak Zinter or Javion Cohen to maybe get extra reps that they wouldn’t have otherwise been afforded if we were completely healthy throughout the entirety of camp.”

Running back Nick Chubb is also on P.U.P. Any player still on P.U.P. when rosters are trimmed to 53 on Aug. 27 must miss a minimum of four games.