With a few minor injuries hampering their quarterback room, the Browns added some depth on Monday by reuniting with Tyler Huntley, according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter. The move is now official.
Kenny Pickett has been nursing a hamstring injury for the last week, and Dillon Gabriel was limited with a similar issue on Monday, per Schefter. Shedeur Sanders has also been experiencing shoulder soreness, so veteran Joe Flacco entered the day as the team’s only fully healthy passer.
The Browns’ first preseason matchup is scheduled for Friday night in Carolina, and neither Pickett nor Gabriel are expected to play, per Cleveland.com’s Mary Kay Cabot. The 40-year-old Flacco played all of six preseason snaps last year, and pushing Sanders to play most of the game with a sore shoulder seems like an unnecessary risk.
Enter Huntley, who spent the 2024 offseason and preseason with the Browns but did not make their 53-man roster. He briefly signed with the Ravens’ practice squad before finishing the year with five starts in Miami. His familiarity with the Browns’ offense will allow him to serve as a camp arm and absorb preseason snaps as the rest of the team’s quarterbacks get back to full health.
He is not expected to factor into the starting competition, which has swung back-and-forth between Flacco and Pickett this summer. Though, this does bring about an interesting development due to Cleveland’s crowded depth chart. Huntley has gone from making five starts a Tua Tagovailoa relief — after making a name for himself as a Lamar Jackson fill-in — to being what could amount to a camp body. It will be interesting to see if this reunion amounts to more than that, as Huntley is still just 27 and has made 14 career starts. The Browns had carried him through past waivers last year but ultimately cut bait shortly after. The Cardinals worked out Huntley in April but did not sign him.
Flacco is atop the Browns’ first unofficial depth chart as Pickett’s absence in camp has set him back in his quest to win the starting job, something he acknowledged this weekend.
“I’m trying to get back out there as fast as possible,” said Pickett (via Cabot). “I’ve never had a soft tissue injury like this, so really a first-time experience in my career.”
The former Steelers first-round pick is still ahead of his rookie teammates, with Gabriel listed as the third-stringer and Sanders behind him. That ranking reflects the snap distribution between the two rookies. Gabriel gets on the field before Sanders and takes more reps, but the latter has been more accurate this summer, according to The Athletic’s Zac Jackson. While neither is expected to start early in the season, Jackson suggested that Sanders’ rapid development could get him on the field later in the year.
What a franchise.
What? Adding a healthy veteran QB to camp when you have 2 QB’S out with leg injuries is funny? Flacco followed by rookie Sanders is a risky thing. Can’t risk losing Flacco while Pickett is out, smart move bringing in a solid veteran and not forcing Sanders to start when he’s not ready …. I’d say that’s pretty smart….
They have 28 QBs
Yeah they can’t afford to lose a washed up 40 year old QB and a 5th round pick that no one else wanted.
How else are they going to lose 10 plus games this season?
They have a month for one of the 3 QBs experiencing minor injuries to return. Signing Huntley probably isnt necessary when youre actively carrying 4 QBs and have another on IR
Just use a jugs machine at this point.
Refused to sign with the Browns
Browns fan here, just logged in to say this is hysterical. Thanks!
I’m also a Browns fan and I fail to see what’s so funny? You don’t want stability at QB ? After all the dysfunction of the Watson era???
Two words never used in the same sentence before. Stability and browns
You need to take some deep breaths, Traci.
That would be a great name for a player on one of those Key & Peele East-West Bowl Game skits. Just call him a quarterback from Texas Tech.
Didn’t Huntley make a pro bowl a couple years ago? That probably says more about the pro bowl than it does about him… Even though it’s preseason, is it a record for a team to have six QBs under contract?
He was actually pretty good with the Ravens but yeah that year was definitely due to injuries to other QBs who were selected for the Pro Bowl first.
Yeah, I thought that he ran that offense pretty well, all things considered. His follow-up the next year was not as impressive as hoped for, unfortunately, but overall I think that he did a solid job.
Had had made like two starts that year when he was named to the game. That was why people thought it was a joke.
Yeah when he started 4 games and threw more interceptions than touchdowns lmao.
Do you ever get tired of embarrassing yourself with these takes?
Huntley’s job wasn’t to throw a bunch of touchdowns. His job was to keep them in games, and he did that.
What does that have to do with him making the pro bowl?
And they never scored more than 17 points in any of the games he started.
And who brings in a QB with the expectation of him not throwing touchdowns?
Lmao 6 QBs!! I can’t stop laughing I can’t breathe 😂😂😂😂😂
5 thank you! Watson in on the PUP and will never play in Cleveland again…
Six QBs still count on the salary cap…
And the roster.
Facts lmao they still getting checks
Salary cap yes….roster…no
You’re splittin hairs here. He’s still employed by the dumpster fire.
Just fill the roster with QBs at this point. 53 QBs, release everyone who isn’t a QB.
If you have four quarterbacks you have…well, one, I guess.
Bernie Kosar probably could use a few bucks
Don’t be ridiculous…Brian sipe has been working out all summer
Imagine if he makes the roster over one of the others
Huntley is just a warm body until Pickett and Gabriel are healthy. Soft tissue leg injuries are no joke. Having only Flacco backed up by the rookie Sanders is asking for trouble, so this is a good insurance policy for the Browns…
Weird how the only healthy guy is nearly twice as old as the rookies…
Yeah he’ll probably play a bunch in preseason, which could help him get signed elsewhere. Win win.
The Browns must have found a clipboard sale at Dollar Tree.
You know what they say…
When you have 356 quarterbacks, you have none.
you of all people picked a random number and it wasn’t 66?
That would be disrespectful to the Browns other 290 QB’s, though.
I guess they are using the throw a bunch of turds at wall and pray that one of them sticks approach.
Watching the Browns draft QBs is much like watching the Bengals draft Defensive lineman. Just a bucket full of turds.
The Browns logic. If we sign every quarterback then they’ll be none left for the other teams and we will sail to the Super Bowl
The Browns have a Quarterback for everday of the week… Except Sunday😂
Okay now that one was good.
Lol
This guy probably ends up being the week one starter.