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Browns Screwing Dorian Thompson-Robinson With Promotion to Starting Role

Being promoted to the starting QB job is setting Dorian Thompson-Robinson up to be the cause of his own demise with the Browns.

By Jason Schandl

Dec 8, 2024; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA; Cleveland Browns quarterback Dorian Thompson-Robinson (17) takes the field to play the Pittsburgh Steelers at Acrisure Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images
Dec 8, 2024; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA; Cleveland Browns quarterback Dorian Thompson-Robinson (17) takes the field to play the Pittsburgh Steelers at Acrisure Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images / Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images
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The Jameis Winston rollercoaster was a lot of fun, as always, and it put Browns fans on a whirlwind tour of what most teams experience with him. He looked good enough to maybe be an option as the team's future starting quarterback, and then immediately proved why he can't be.

So now, Dorian Thompson-Robinson is, ostensibly, getting his audition to be the Browns' QB2 or even threaten to replace Deshaun Watson as the QB1 for next season if the team makes the right move and admits defeat on Watson's ridiculous contract.

But giving DTR the reins now is not a genuine audition. This move is actually asking Thompson-Robinson to ensure that he won't be in the starting QB conversation by next fall.

Why Dorian Thompson-Robinson is Set Up to Fail By the Browns

This isn't nearly as simple as "DTR isn't ready to be QB1 yet and needs more time to develop," but that is certainly a piece of it. So at the risk of starting and boring you with what you already know, let me just skim over a couple of numbers that highlight the fact:

  • Thompson-Robinson has the third-lowest PFF grade (38.4) among any of the 69 QBs who have at least one dropback this season.
  • He has already thrown three interceptions on 345 pass attempts in 2024, and his career 4.8% interception rate is worse even than Winston's 4.1% on the season.
  • He's averaged 3.7 yards per pass attempt on 146 career regular-season throws.

So he brings all of the downside of a turnover-prone quarterback but with none of the "reward" that comes in that "high-risk, high-reward" archetype. He's obviously not ready.

But what makes this even worse?

Starting DTR is as much about tanking as it is about auditioning him for the future. It's obvious he's not going to suddenly be a completely different QB over the final three weeks. That would be a nice bonus if he did, but nobody in the organization can be seriously thinking it might happen.

And nobody is sitting there thinking DTR makes this team more likely to win games than Winston does. Let's be real. The Browns are 7.5-point underdogs this week against the 6-8 Bengals (per FanDuel Sportsbook).

But losing out will absolutely give the Browns a great shot at picking very high in the 2025 NFL Draft. They'll almost certainly be picking in the top 5, and possibly even the top 3 if they do. And that suddenly makes the "Do we replace Deshaun Watson?" conversation a lot easier.

A top-drafted rookie, say, Miami's Cam Ward, isn't going to require a fat QB1 contract like a veteran would until after Watson's nightmare deal expires. It's also a much easier sell to have someone like Ward coming in — the PR spin of "he was too good to pass on, we took the best player available" does the trick.

And where does DTR fall in that? To QB3, at best. It will be Watson and Ward competing for the starting job, while Thompson-Robinson fights in training camp to remain the QB3 in 2025. That's not unusual for a player of DTR's caliber and draft pedigree, but it's harsh because of the way it ties into the rest of this 2024 season.

The Browns are essentially asking DTR to go out in a role he's clearly not ready for. They expect him to lose games, and to probably look bad while he's doing it. And those losses will be the driving force that allows Cleveland to make a major move in ensuring he never plays another meaningful snap for the team again. Ouch.

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