Cleveland Browns have always known who their starter will be going into Week 1 but there were questions around the backup job.

Kevin Stefanski confirmed on Thursday that Joshua Dobbs will start the season against the Cincinnati Bengals as Deshaun Watson’s backup in Week 1  

Some believed that rookie Dorian Thompson-Robinson had made a big enough push in the preseason to win the backup job.

“He’s coming along,” Stefanski said of the rookie. “He’s making great strides, we’re excited about his future. Just the focus for him and all of our guys is to continue to work.”

In three games during the preseason, Thompson-Robinson is 30-of-46 passing with 348 yards and two touchdowns. The rookie hasn’t turned the ball over and has run for 55 yards.

“We really like that quarterback in total. Really excited where all those guys are and really confident in all of the backups, that they play a huge role in that room.”

Dobbs has appeared in one game this preseason against the Washington Commanders where he went 8-of-16 passing with 77 yards and an interception.

The appeal to Dobbs is that he is as smart as it gets and knows the system well. Dobbs served as the backup to Jacoby Brissett for 11 games last year while Watson was suspended. Following Watson’s return, the Browns cut Dobbs and he landed with the Tennessee Titans where he got his first two NFL starts.

This off-season, the Browns gave Dobbs a one-year deal worth $2 million guaranteed. It was the guaranteed money that essentially locked him into that backup rule.

Cleveland likely didn’t expect DTR to hit the ground running and be this good in the preseason. But he’s a player that has played a lot of football with 49 starts at UCLA in college.

The quarterback room in Cleveland is in a good spot to start the season with knowledge, youth, and leadership. In the meantime, the Browns will have one more chance to show off all three quarterbacks in the same game on Saturday against the Kansas City Chiefs, in what will be the team’s final preseason game. 

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Featured image via Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports.