NFL free agency: Meet Browns new QB Tyler Huntley

Cleveland’s quarterback room is very full

The 2023 season for the Cleveland Browns could be called several monikers. The most obvious would be “The Year of the Quarterback.”

After the season began very promising with Deshaun Watson hoping to play a full season, he was ruled out in a game-time decision of the Week 4 game against division foe Baltimore Ravens. Watson hurt his shoulder in Week 3 against his former team the Houston Texans. In his stead, rookie Dorian Thompson-Robinson (DTR) got his first NFL start and performed like a rookie against a very good team as the Browns were crushed 28-3.

In Week 6, it was journeyman P.J. Walker who was inserted to start when Watson was still dealing with nagging symptoms from the earlier shoulder injury.

Watson went down with a displaced fracture in his right glenoid in Week 10 after a comeback win over the Ravens. The injury required surgery which placed him on IR. DTR got the start the following week in the 13-10 victory against the Pittsburgh Steelers. The following week he started again but was knocked out with a head injury to which Walker was inserted and played poorly in the loss to a weaker club.

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Beginning in Week 13 against the Los Angeles Rams, Joe Flacco became the starter and continued for the remainder of the season. In a parallel move, Walker was waived and then added to the practice squad. The aged one, Flacco was then signed with an old-school contract that paid him per game for wins instead of a one-year deal for a set amount.

In the end, four quarterbacks started.

DTR may be considered the future of the franchise at quarterback once Watson’s contract expires in three years. Of course, that all depends. At that point, Watson could be retained and continue or the team will hand over the reins to DTR. Walker was not re-signed for 2024.

On the second day of the legal tampering period of free agency, it was reported that Cleveland will sign veteran Jameis Winston to a one-year $8.7 million contract to compete for the backup QB position.

Then in a surprise move on St. Patrick’s Day March 17, the Browns signed Tyler Huntley (age 26) to the QB group on a one-year deal worth $1.08 million. Huntley spent his entire NFL career with Baltimore backing up league MVP Lamar Jackson.

And suddenly, the Browns quarterback room needed more chairs.

Beginnings

There are a lot of professional football players that come out of the State of Florida. Huntley is one of them. He began playing flag football at the age of three but was bumped to the 4-5 year-olds league because he was deemed advanced. For years growing up, he would ask for the same thing for Christmas every year – a new football. At the age of 10, he informed his parents he wanted to pursue football at the highest level.

He attended Hallandale High School in Hallandale Beach, Florida which is an oceanside borough nestled between Miami and Ft. Lauderdale. Along with its snowbird tourist business, it is home to the Big Easy Casino and Gulfstream Park, a famous horse racing casino that hosts the World Classic. The area is especially popular with winter residents from the Providence of Quebec.

He was a dual-threat quarterback despite being 175 pounds. Huntley started all four years and as a senior was 237 completions on 387 attempts for 3,636 yards with 42 touchdowns and only 10 interceptions.

His high school coach Dameon Jones explained what he saw in Huntley early on to deseret.com:

“I could tell he was special since the first time I saw him throw. He was just 5 foot 7 when I saw him (in the eighth grade) — real small and real skinny. But the ball had that zip coming out of his hand. He was throwing better at that age than guys who were already in high school.”

After Huntley’s high school career was completed, he passed for 9,053 yards and 106 touchdowns, went 34-10, set a state record by throwing 71 attempts in a single game and a school-record seven touchdown passes, and played and lost one state championship game.

Huntley maintained a 3.32 weighted GPA. As a high schooler, he volunteered at the Center of Hope Ministries and his school’s S.W.A.G. program.

He was named Two Time Broward County, Second Team All-State 6A as a junior, and First Team All-State 6A after his senior season. Also, as a senior, he was named the Florida Gatorade High School Player of the Year.

Huntley and his 4.6 speed had college offers from Samford, West Virginia, Utah, FAU, North Carolina State, Bethune-Cookman, Akron, Bowling Green, South Florida, Florida A&M, Miami, FIU, Temple, LSU, North Carolina, Toledo, Clemson, Baylor, Cincinnati, Louisville, Appalachian State, Ohio State, and Florida State.

He committed to Florida Atlantic University in nearby Boca Raton, Florida to be close to home.

However, he later de-committed and enrolled at Utah to be under head coach Dennis Erickson whom Huntley had met as a kid. The reason Huntley left FAU before he began was, he wanted to be on a bigger stage.

Huntley had tremendous speed and was expected to bulk up to play the quarterback position at the D-1 level. Utah recruited for skills, scheme, and position requirements whereas many other schools recruit for star players.

What is odd is that the State of Florida is to Utah as Utah County is to BYU with a strong Florida pipeline. Huntley showed up as a 17-year-old athlete, smart, a great student with good character, a proven winner, and very motivated.

After playing in just four games as a freshman at Utah, Huntley became the starter in his sophomore year where he remained for the next three years.

As a sophomore, he beat out the incumbent and surprised everyone that he was named the starter. He then missed three games due to an arm injury. When he returned, Huntley accounted for 66% of Utah’s total offense. His 293.5 yards of total offense per game ranked #27 in the nation, and his 73.3 completion percentage ranked #7. He was the first Utah quarterback to record back-to-back 300-yard passing games since 2008. He was named Honorable Mention Pac-12 All-Academic.

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Huntley started his junior year but broke his left collarbone in early November. The junior quarterback was carted off the field after being slow to get up. After he left the game, the opponent Arizona State reeled off 17 unanswered points and came back for the win. Huntley went 6-3 in the nine games he played. He was named Honorable Mention Pac-12 All-Academic.

A lot was expected of Huntley for his senior season. He started all 14 games and had 220 completions from 301 attempts with 19 TDs with just four interceptions, and added 104 carries for 290 yards with five rushing TDs.

His career college numbers include 574 completions on 854 attempts for 7,351 yards, 46 touchdowns with 20 picks with a record of 23-10, and 389 rushing attempts for 1,146 yards with another 16 touchdowns.

RELATED: TYLER HUNTLEY IS A TOP 5 QUARTERBACK

Huntley ranked second in the FBS and first in the Pac-12 in completion percentage and battled Heisman winner Joe Burrow at the top of the FBS rankings for completion percentage (73.1%). He was a finalist for the Unitas Golden Arm Award plus the Manning Award, and a semi-finalist for the O’Brien Award, Lombardi Award, and the Walter Camp Player of the Year. He also got an invite to the East-West Shrine Game.

His accolades included being named First Team All-Pac-12 Conference, Pro Football Focus Third Team All-American, and the AP Co-Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Year.

When healthy, Huntley was one of the most productive quarterbacks in the country over the past three years.

His scouting report by NFL.com was as follows:

“A history of working out of zone-read, spread and pro-style attacks. Experienced in multiple schemes. Decisive with the football when he finds his rhythm. Arm talent to make NFL throws. Talented runner outside pocket. Weaknesses includes a skinny frame not conducive for NFL quarterback play, needs to quicken operation time from his eyes to release, and rushes his throws when under duress.”

Huntley was not invited to the Combine and was a scratch for his Pro Day due to COVID.

Going into the NFL

Despite an excellent college career including a very good senior season, Huntley (6’-1”, 204 pounds) went undrafted in the 2020 NFL draft. He signed with the Baltimore Ravens where the QB room the year before was Lamar Jackson, Robert Griffin, III, and Trace McSorley. All four were in training camp and eventually, despite having a decent training camp, Huntley was a last-day cutdown transaction. The Ravens then signed him to the practice squad.

Oddly enough, Huntley’s high school team defeated Jackson’s Boynton Beach Tigers for the District 15-6A title on Halloween in 2014 by a score of 38-36.

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Being a COVID year, Baltimore had three quarterbacks who had pandemic and health issues. Huntley was elevated in early December in the Week 12 game against division-rival Pittsburgh Steelers. After the game, he was reverted to the practice squad. This occurred three other times this season and attempted just five passes.

Journeyman Josh Johnson made the final roster in 2021, but it was Huntley was the choice to come in for Jackson when he injured his ankle in late December. However, he was put on the COVID list for one game and then started two games at the end of the schedule, both losses.

Those two starts enabled the Ravens to want to keep Huntley and placed an exclusive-rights free agent tender on him. The 2022 season was Huntley’s coming-out party. Jackson again was hurt with a knee injury to which Huntley became the starter for four games. His pass completion ratio was 67% with two TDs, but tossed three interceptions. He was named to the Pro Bowl as an injury replacement for Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen.

For 2023, before training camp, again Baltimore placed a tender on him that would allow the franchise to match any other club’s contract offer. The tender was worth $2.6 million. He started just one game as Jackson had a tremendous year and was named the league’s MVP.

In his four years in the NFL, Huntley threw 342 attempts with 221 completions, tossed eight touchdowns with seven interceptions, a 64.3% completion ratio, and played in 20 games with nine starts. As a runner, he had 115 rushes for 509 yards with an additional three scores.

Why Cleveland?

The Ravens had kept Johnson as their third quarterback for several seasons and had signed undrafted rookie free agent Malik Cunningham. He became a free agent in March 2024 and was not expected to re-sign with the Ravens.

Cleveland had reportedly inked Jameis Winston to a contract in what was expected to become the team’s backup going forward which would allow DTR to develop without the stress of live-action games.

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Then on March 12, the Browns signed Huntley as well. Currently, the quarterback room consists of Deshaun Watson, Dorian Thompson-Robinson, Winston, and now Huntley. Traditionally, the club only keeps three signal-callers.

For starters, Huntley signed a one-year deal for the veteran minimum.

Last season when Watson became injured when he hurt his shoulder and eventually had surgery after making just six starts, the franchise was suddenly in trouble. DTR was and played like a rookie, and P.J. Walker was and played like a journeyman. Not until Joe Flacco was signed did the team begin to win down the stretch which became a playoff berth.

Rest assured; GM Andrew Berry was not going to go through that again.

Huntley’s nickname is “Snoop.” The nickname comes from his days at Hallandale High School as his favorite music was by rapper Snoop Dogg. The next time you are watching a game on TV you may notice an announcer will throw out the Snoop nickname. While at Utah, there would be chants of “Snoooooooop” that would echo the stadium.

There may be questions raised as to why Berry signed Huntley after, reportedly, just bringing in Winston to play behind Watson next season.

Winston is headed into his 10^th season with 93 games played, 80 NFL starts and a 61.2% completion ratio. Huntley will begin his fifth season having played in 20 games with nine starts and a 64.6% completion ratio.

Is this a move to replace DTR? Because the signings were within days of each other, did Berry decide he preferred Huntley over Winston? Does Winston’s deal worth $8.7 million versus the NFL minimum salary contract of $1.08 million Huntley signed have something to do with this? After the draft, does this mean Cleveland will not bring in a young guy for camp fodder? Are Huntley and Winston camp arms as well?

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Right now, the unofficial depth chart has Watson, Winston, Huntley, and DTR. Obviously, the Browns are not keeping four QBs on the roster, but certainly adding one or two of these athletes to the practice squad is a probability.

Enter new OC Ken Dorsey. Both signings certainly were run by his desk first.

Dorsey prefers bigger QBs, and players who can run the ball. Winston is 6’-4”, 231 pounds. Huntley is just 6’-1” and a thin 204 pounds similar to DTR’s 6’-2”, 203 pounds. As runners, Winston has 1.214 yards on 298 attempts with 11 TDs and 4.1 yards per attempt average compared to Huntley’s 509 yards on 115 attempts with three TDs and a 3.7 yards per rush average. DTR has 65 rushing yards on 14 attempts and a 4.6 yards per attempt.

Mobility is a key resource for all three backups.

Plus, who would know Baltimore’s offense better than one of their own quarterbacks? Who can argue that Huntley was one of the best backups in the league last year?

If the end game is to develop DTR as the long-term starter, suddenly Watson doesn’t have to become the only teacher in the group.

It should be noted that Winston and Huntley are the only quarterbacks with the Browns that were not injured last season. It just could the case that one of these will be traded similar to what happened to Josh Dobbs last year.