Kevin Stefanski further clarifies why he benched Jameis Winston for Dorian Thompson-Robinson
Before the Cleveland Browns' season changed forever in Week 7, with Deshaun Watson tearing his ACL ahead of a surefire one-way trip to season-ending IR, Kevin Stefanski made another change at quarterback, benching Jameis Winston from the QB2 spot in order to allow second-year pro Dorian Thompson-Robinson as the primary backup.
But why? Were the demands to see Winston play over Watson growing too powerful, and Stefanski wanted to take that option off of the table for in-stadium fans? Or was there something DTR brought to the table that Winston did not, namely his athleticism in the run game? Were the Browns planning to use DTR in specific offensive packages before Watson went down? Or are fans simply reading a bit too into it?
Well, as it turns out, even Stefanski admitted that his decision-making process wasn't articulated clearly, as, during his Monday media availability, he broke down his rationale in retrospect.
“Yeah, kind of like we talked about yesterday, Tony (Grossi), I think going into the season, I felt like both guys were worthy of being the backup quarterback. I told those guys that early in the season. Felt like with not having that short yardage package with Jameis in this last game, felt like Dorian had acquitted himself well in practice and in his preparation to make him the backup. That’s really — that’s the story.”
Wait, what does that even mean? Well, as it turns out, the reporters in the room didn't understand it either, so they asked Stefanski for more insight and walked away with a much better picture of the situation.
Kevin Stefanski wanted to try DTR as the Browns' QB2 in Week 7
So what was the explanation for playing FTR over Winston in Week 7? According to Stefanski, it all comes down to one thing and one thing only: he felt Thompson-Robinson was ready to back up Watson full-stop.
“Yeah, I have to be clearer then. So, our ones get all the reps in practice. If there’s a package of plays for a player, he would get those reps in a practice. This was not — the decision to put Dorian as a number two was not because of a certain package of plays. We didn’t have a specific set of plays for Dorian in that game. We made him the backup quarterback so he would serve in that role if there was an injury,” Stefanski told reporters.
“And obviously we were not hoping for that, that was unfortunate how that played out, but it was really, I guess to be clear, Jameis had a short-yardage package in the previous weeks where he was going in. So, he gets those reps in practice because we didn’t have that in and I felt like Dorian had done a nice job, throughout practice, throughout really, the spring and summer, that really was the decision. It wasn’t about any sort of package for Dorian.”
On paper, it would have made sense if the Browns opted to put DTR on the field because of his athleticism, as Watson famously said he isn't a running quarterback. But now that it's clear Watson is out for the foreseeable future, there should be no question about who starts for the Browns moving forward, as even without a finger injury, Winston is at least the Browns' second-best quarterback, if not their top arm overall.
