Huntley Gets the Start. Cleveland Has to Make That Matter.

Lamar Jackson is out for the Ravens on Sunday, which means Tyler Huntley gets the call — and Cleveland, for one week, catches a break it badly needs. A team that has been outscored and outmanned for most of 2026 now faces a backup quarterback instead of one of the most dangerous players in the league. That is the good news.

The bad news is everything on the other side of the ball. The receiver room that I flagged Wednesday as running on fumes is still running on fumes. KC Concepcion is active after clearing the concussion protocol, but the depth behind Jerry Jeudy remains essentially nonexistent — one meaningful contributor in a position group that typically needs three. Whatever advantage Cleveland gains from not seeing Jackson, it has to actually do something with it offensively, and that has been the harder ask all season.

Defensively, the Browns have the personnel to make Huntley uncomfortable. Derek Barnett is questionable, which is a concern at a position where there is no real backup behind him. But the secondary — Ward and Delpit both active, both healthy — is as sound as it has been all year. Huntley is a capable backup, but he is not a guy who beats you with his arm alone, and a functional secondary can take away the easy throws and force him into decisions.

The window is real. Whether Cleveland is built well enough right now to climb through it is a different question entirely.