Bailey Zappe To Become 40th Browns Starting QB In Last 25 Years

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Stop me if you've heard this one before: the Cleveland Browns will have a new starting quarterback this week. The team announced that former Patriots QB Bailey Zappe will start for the team against the Baltimore Ravens on Saturday.

Zappe will become the 40th different player to start at quarterback for the Browns since the franchise returned to Cleveland in 1999. 

Bookmakers don't have a lot of faith in Zappe and the Browns, installing the team as 18-point underdogs against the Ravens. 

The Browns' revolving door of quarterbacks has become a running joke in NFL circles, with some fans attempting to create jerseys with all the different players who have started games for the team over the past 25 years. 

The first was Tim Couch, who the team drafted with the No. 1 overall pick in the 1999 NFL Draft. Couch didn't work out, but he isn't alone. 

The only real stability the team has had since moving back to Cleveland occurred when the team selected Baker Mayfield with the first pick in the 2018 NFL Draft. 

Mayfield started 59 regular-season games from 2018-2021 and led the team to one of its three postseason berths since 1999. 

But the team jettisoned Mayfield to trade for Deshaun Watson, who has been an unmitigated disaster. He's started just 19 of the team's 51 games since 2022, and he hasn't been good when he's played. 

The Cleveland Browns will start Bailey Zappe in Week 18, the 40th different starting QB for the franchise since 1999.

The Cleveland Browns will start Bailey Zappe in Week 18, the 40th different starting QB for the franchise since 1999. 

(Scott Galvin/Imagn Images)

In fact, it was Joe Flacco who led the team to the playoffs last season after Watson suffered an injury. 

Cleveland has no choice but to continue to give Watson the opportunity to start next year, given its contractual commitment to him. 

Meanwhile, Baker Mayfield has had a career resurgence in Tampa Bay, leading the Buccaneers to a playoff victory last season, and he has a chance to get the team back into the postseason in Week 18 with a victory. 

To be fair to Mayfield, he probably had to leave the Browns to be a successful quarterback. Based on the pattern, Cleveland is where quarterbacks go to die. 

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Dan began his sports media career at ESPN, where he survived for nearly a decade. Once the Stockholm Syndrome cleared, he made his way to OutKick. He is secure enough in his masculinity to admit he is a cat-enthusiast with three cats, one of which is named "Brady" because his wife wishes she were married to Tom instead of him.