Drew

Stanton

Stanton was listed questionable for Monday night’s game with the Jets but will instead be stashed on I.R. with the Browns needing a roster spot for RB Elijah McGuire. Garrett Gilbert is now Baker Mayfield’s backup, at least for the time being.

We’d think the Lions are giving him very little money, but you never know with them. Culpepper is weeks away from threatening for playing time, much less fantasy value. But it wouldn’t be a shock to see the team try him out late in the season, depending how Dan Orlovsky and Drew Stanton fare. This moves says a lot about how Detroit views their young quarterbacks.

Tyrod Taylor has cleared the concussion protocol, but he’s still feeling the effects of a back injury. Taylor practiced, albeit in a limited capacity, throughout the week, suggesting he’ll be active for next week’s game against the Ravens. Coming off a masterful debut in Week 3, Mayfield will be the Browns’ starter until further notice.

With Chad Henne off the market, the Jets are moving on to Plan B at backup quarterback. Stanton, a 2007 second-round pick, has posted a 66.9 passer rating in four career starts. The Jets have been courting him since free agency opened.

Stanton just a signed a reasonable one-year, $1.25 million deal. The Jets have to hope that a team in need of a quality backup, such as the Rams, Raiders or Packers prefers Stanton to the mediocre veteran options still available. The best they can hope for is a late-round pick. Stanton chose the Jets over the Bucs and Chiefs, who went on to sign Dan Orlovsky and Brady Quinn respectively.

Jets GM Mike Tannenbaum was noncommittal about Stanton’s future in a Wednesday night conference call. “We’ll see,” said Tannenbaum. "... When we signed Drew, we didn’t think (Tebow) was a possibility.” Tannenbaum confirmed Tebow would be the No. 2 quarterback behind Mark Sanchez, leaving Stanton potentially ahead of only Greg McElroy on the Jets’ depth chart.

Stanton didn’t draw any known interest from teams other than the Jets before signing a one-year, $1.25 million deal on March 16. Plenty of teams would be interested in an athletic second- or third-stringer, though. Reentering the free agent market would allow Stanton to have a say on his new club.

Fellow backup Shaun Hill is also a free agent, but is expected to re-sign with the Lions. “I’ll see what the interest levels are, and make the best possible decision for me and my family,” Stanton said. Stanton held his own filling in for Hill and Matthew Stafford in 2010, but didn’t take a single snap last season. If he draws lukewarm interest as a backup, the odds are high he’ll end up back in Detroit as the Lions’ third-stringer.

Stanton is a fallback option if the Jets don’t land free agent Chad Henne, who is drawing more interest from the Seahawks and Jaguars. The athletic but erratic Stanton would not pose much competition for starter Mark Sanchez.

Stanton joins Trevor Vittatoe as the lone two quarterbacks on the Colts’ offseason roster. That will change in five weeks, of course. The Jets were lucky to get anything for Stanton after it became clear he’d be elsewhere following the addition of Tim Tebow. Stanton, 28 in May, is an athletic signal caller lacking accuracy and passing technique. He’s not a natural thrower of the football. He is a competitive quarterback with a strong arm, however, and went 2-1 as a spot starter for the Lions in 2010. He’ll likely be Andrew Luck’s backup in Indianapolis.