Injuries are starting to pile up for the Cleveland Browns‘ offensive stars early this season. The team has already lost Pro Bowl running back Nick Chubb for the year with a knee injury. Now, quarterback Deshaun Watson will miss today’s game with a shoulder injury. The Browns will turn to rookie Dorian Thompson-Robinson to replace Watson against the Baltimore Ravens.
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What Can We Expect From Dorian Thompson-Robinson?
Thompson-Robinson played in all four preseason games and was impressive in his first taste of NFL action. He completed 37 of 58 passes for 440 yards with two touchdowns and no interceptions and had 68 rushing yards on 14 attempts. This experience should help Thompson-Robinson during his first NFL start against the Ravens’ top-10 defense.
Cleveland has won two of the first three games this season with wins over the Cincinnati Bengals and Tennessee Titans. The team ranks 12th with 24.3 points per game and has scored at least 22 points in each game.
The Browns hope Thompson-Robinson can fill in for Watson as well as Jerome Ford has for Chubb. Ford has found the end zone three times since Chubb went down in the first half of the second game.
The Browns’ defense has been leading the way, allowing only three points in each of the team’s wins while allowing 26 in the only loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers. The unit is leading the league by limiting opposing offenses to only 163.7 yards a game.
Thompson-Robinson’s Path to the NFL
Thompson-Robinson, nicknamed ‘DTR’ for obvious reasons, committed to UCLA after a standout high school career at Bishop Gorman High School in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Thompson-Robinson was a regular in the starting lineup during his five-year tenure with the Bruins. The only two seasons he started less than 11 games were in his 2018 freshman season (eight starts) and in the COVID-19-shortened 2020 season (five starts).
DTR’s improvement was readily apparent over the course of his collegiate career, both in terms of his individual statistics and in the win column for UCLA. Thompson-Robinson went just 7-17 during his first three seasons.
Which should only serve to illuminate the 17-7 mark he posted during his last two seasons with the Bruins. DTR boosted his completion percentage from a lowly 57% as a freshman to a shade under 70 during his redshirt senior season.
Between 2021-22, Thompson-Robinson threw for a combined 5,563 yards and 48 touchdowns. In addition to that, he racked up an additional 1,255 rushing yards and 21 more scores on the ground during those two campaigns.
Thompson-Robinson’s Bruins were pushing for playoff consideration last season with an 8-1 record in the middle of November. Unfortunately, several late-season heartbreaks led to a disappointing 9-4 finish for UCLA.
The fact that 9-4 was a disappointment is still something of a testament to Thompson-Robinson’s impact, however. After all, it was the best record that UCLA finished a season with in eight years.
DTR’s collegiate efforts led to him being drafted in the fifth round by the Browns. He’s a plus athlete, as evidenced by his 4.56 40-yard dash time, with considerable arm strength. But concerns persist about his accuracy and performance under pressure.
