With starting quarterback DeShaun Watson likely out on Sunday, the Brows have said they are turning to newcomer PJ Walker to lead the offense if Watson cannot go.

Watson has been dealing with a shoulder injury, a rotator cuff contusion, for a few weeks now. Despite being medically cleared to play, Watson was a surprise healthy scratch from Cleveland’s Week 4 matchup against the Baltimore Ravens, in which they lost 28-3.

In that game, rookie backup quarterback Dorian Thompson-Robinson went 19/36 for 121 yards, and was intercepted 3 times.

It was a horrible afternoon for Cleveland football, and even though it was the fifth rounder’s first career NFL start, the Browns are turning to someone else to fill-in for Watson’s absence.

But little do most people know, their new man PJ Walker was once nearly a Steeler.

Back in 2019, early on in the season, Ben Roethlisberger went down with what would be a season-ending elbow injury. It was a lingering injury that had finally become too much to bear in Week 2 of that year vs Seattle, when he grabbed said elbow and winced in pain. He went into the locker room before halftime, and never returned to the field in 2019.

With Big Ben out, the Steelers were forced to turn to backup Mason Rudolph, who finished Pittsburgh’s loss to Seattle, and started in their Week 3 loss to the San Francisco 49ers.

Rudolph went 12/19 for 112 yards, 2 touchdowns, and 1 interception in his relief appearance against Seattle, but didn’t improve a ton when he started the following week.

Rudolph did have another 2 touchdowns against San Francisco, but went 14/27 with another interception 174 yards.

To try and turn around a season that had turned from a revenge tour to a sinking ship, the Steelers front office had already looked for outside help. General manager Kevin Colbert had done the unthinkable: trading away a first round pick to bring in safety Minkah Fitzpatrick.

But the Steelers front office also was seeking help in their quarterback room.

At this same time, a startup second-iteration of the XFL (not today’s version) was gearing up for their upcoming 2020 season. They had already completed their draft, unveiled teams and uniforms, and had initiated practices.

It was this version of the XFL where Landry Jones, a former backup quarterback for Roethlisberger and the Steelers, had recently signed. After the drafting of Rudolph, the Steeler released Jones for the 2018 season.

He bounced around a few other teams, trying to make it on various rosters and practice squads. He even was offered a seven-figure salary by the sketchy startup Alliance of American Football to come and play for them, but after not getting a clear answer on exactly how he would be paid, he declined the offer.

In the end, Jones was correct to turn the offer down.

Midway through their inaugural season, the league absolutely collapsed, even after billionaire Tom Dundon, owner of the NHL’s Carolina Hurricanes, had taken over and poured millions of dollars into the league.

Dundon himself was the one to ultimately pull the plug on the AAF, doing so in a way that had completely blindsided many of the league’s employees and athletes.

League employees were notified by email from the board that they were all to be terminated within 24 hours, without severance. The email they had received contained zero reasoning for why the league was shutting down.

Players had found out about the league’s decision through social media, and many had suddenly been stranded in cities they didn’t live in.

Sports media had been shocked by the spectacle that the AAF’s demise had become, and stories of players having to pay for team hotels, travel expenses to get home, and medical bills for injuries sustained during play haunted a league that once had sky high hopes.

The entire story of the AAF’s failure is much more complex, and requires a lot more words to properly dive into, but it’s safe to say he dodged a bullet there.

Jones did sign with the XFL, however, which on the surface, seemed to be more stable. In fact, he was the first player to sign in the league, becoming one of the faces of the revived XFL.

But it wasn’t long after he initially signed with the XFL that a familiar friend came calling. Well…calling the league offices, anyways.

With Roethlisberger down, the Steelers called the XFL league offices to inquire about taking Landry Jones. Jones, after all, had the added benefit of experience with the Steelers. He knew the offense, and had his moments for Pittsburgh over his years there.

But the XFL’s offices said no.

Jones had actually no idea that the Steelers had inquired about him until months later, but the Steelers were forced to turn their eyes to new prospects.

Another man who caught their their eye was PJ Walker.

A standout at quarterback in college, PJ Walker left the Temple Owls holding multiple school records, including passing yards, touchdowns, completions, and wins.

In his senior year at Temple, Walker had thrown for 3,295 yards and and 22 touchdowns, as opposed to 13 interceptions. Walker finished the year with a passer rating of 140.1, by far the highest of his college career.

Despite that, Walker went undrafted in 2017, but landed with the Indianapolis Colts as an undrafted free agent.

Walker spent three years on and off of the Colts practice squad, having never played a game for Indy.

Having been released in 2019, Walker was still looking for a chance to showcase his quarterback talent. That’s where the XFL came in.

In October of 2019, Walker joined the XFL, and ended up being one of the quarterbacks assigned to an XFL team prior to the league’s official draft.

After being denied Landry Jones, the Steelers again came calling just a few days later.

After Pittsburgh and Mason Rudolph lost their Week 3 game, the Steelers once again came calling, this time inquiring about Walker.

The Steelers, this time around, if XFL commissioner Oliver Luck was to be believed, were more so hoping to have Walker help train the Steelers defense on how to properly handle Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson.

At the time, Jackson had only played a handful of games, was taking the league by storm. He is still very good today, but there wasn’t a book on him back then; he was this mobile, unafraid quarterback who was completely unknown to the NFL world.

In a Q&A Luck did with the Tampa Bay Times in December of 2019, Luck shared that the Steelers had called about Walker and said “We’d like to have Phillip for a week because we’re playing the Ravens and Phillip’s a little bit like Lamar Jackson.”

Luck went on further that the Steelers wanted to “sign him to a one-week contract so we can get accustomed to that kind of quarterback.”

This was the same interview that allowed Landry Jones to first find out the Steelers had inquired about him back in September, when the XFL had also refused to release Jones.

It’s unknown if the Steelers would have decided to keep Walker at all. Maybe if he impressed in practices, Pittsburgh would have opted to hang onto him.

And ironically enough, if Walker had stayed with the Steelers, even until that Sunday, he may have had to come into a game.

Rudolph would end up being concussed midway through Pittsburgh’s game vs the Ravens. With Rudolph also down, the Steelers had to bring out Devlin “Duck” Hodges, who was promoted to the active roster shortly after the injury to Roethlisberger.

But if Walker was on the roster, it’s possible he could have came out to face Jackson in a game the Steelers ultimately lost in overtime, 26-23.

Lamar Jackson had a miserable day on the field, throwing for just 161 yards, 1 touchdown, 3 picks, and 5 sacks.

In the end, the XFL had denied the Steelers both Jones and Walker to try and prove a point about their new league.

“Once you’re under contract with the XFL, you’re under contract, regardless of position,” Luck had told the Tampa Bay Times. “We’re not trying to be a development league for the NFL.”

Luck did concede that many players who came to the XFL still had NFL aspirations, but that if they were signed to the XFL contracts, they were to be committed to the league all season.

Luck said that the XFL was a “league of opportunity”, and that he hoped that XFL players could pursue NFL dreams, and that the XFL would have succeeded in their goal of playing good football.

Part of the particular sticking point with guys like Jones and Walker was their position. The XFL had sought high-level quarterback play to help the overall quality of their on-field product.

And while yes, they weren’t letting any player out of their deals to go to the NFL before the season was out, they certainly weren’t even going to think about it for their big name quarterbacks.

PJ Walker would dominate the XFL until the Covid-19 pandemic caused this iteration of the league to shut down. Walker went 5-0 with 1,338 passing yards, 15 touchdowns, and 4 interceptions.

After the season was canceled, Walker signed a two year contract with the Carolina Panthers. He started one game in each of the 2020 and 2021 NFL seasons (both wins with solid numbers), before re-signing with the team and starting 5 straight games for Carolina in 2022 after an injury to Baker Mayfield.

In that stretch, Walker went 2-3 with 671 passing yards, 3 touchdowns and as many picks.

In the offseason, Walker signed a deal with the Chicago Bears, but he was released in August. Three days after his release, he was picked up by Cleveland, and promoted to the active roster ahead of Week 4.

Now, Walker looks set to make his first start for the Browns against the undefeated San Francisco 49ers.

(Featured photo by Nick Cammett/Getty Images)