NFL fans react as Browns bench Bailey Zappe vs. Ravens - "This is the most obvious tank job"

The Bailey Zappe era was over before it ever got going as the Browns quarterback did not last a full quarter against the Ravens in Week 18 of the 2024 NFL season. Cleveland has had a horror show at that position all year. Deshaun Watson, the starter with a guaranteed contract, went down with an Achilles injury but was not playing well before that either. Then came the Jameis Winston show, which brought entertaining touchdowns but also game-killing interceptions.

Then the Browns moved on to Dorian Thompson-Robinson (DTR) but after three weeks without a passing touchdown and picks in every appearance last month, he was benched in favor of Bailey Zappe. He had a chance to cement his plot but he kept up the trend of Cleveland quarterbacks throwing interceptions with a pick-six in the first quarter.

Kevin Stefanski decided to give him another drive after that, which did not yield anything productive, and then the Browns head coach decided to revert to DTR. Fans could not help but marvel at the dysfunction, with some saying that it showed that Cleveland was not even trying to win. Instead, they accused them of tanking to have a higher pick in next year's draft. Here are some comments from X/Twitter.

As the Browns kept rotating between Bailey Zappe and DTR with Jameis Winston nowhere to be seen, even though he was the only one of the trio with a touchdown for Cleveland until that point, that sentiment was further exacerbated. Here are some more posts from the social media platform.

"The only reason the Browns should be benching Winston is to purposely tank for the draft. That’s it. If they’re playing Zappe & DTR because they think those 2 give them a better chance at winning than Winston, then they’re officially the stupidest f*cking team to exist in the NFL" - fumed one.

"Teams aren’t technically allowed to tank but somehow the NFL thinks the Browns playing DTR and Zappe over Jameis Winston has nothing do with it" - commented another.

"You, a fool, watching the first quarter: “Man, the Browns couldn’t possibly tank harder than they are right now”. The Browns: Dorian Thompson-Robinson in at QB for the #Browns" - concurred a third.

Ravens' Lamar Jackson shows what Browns missing as they rotate Bailey Zappe

It was clear that the Browns were trying to figure out who was their best quarterback In the process, they could see what they were missing. Lamar Jackson had 83 passing yards compared to 64 for Bailey Zappe and DTR combined when the game reached its first two-minute warning. He also had one passing touchdown, whereas Zappe had gifted the Ravens a defensive touchdown. The gap between the AFC North rivals never looked bigger.