CLEVELAND — Of all the players released on Tuesday as NFL teams trimmed their respective rosters to 53 players, one of the most notable was Minnesota Vikings quarterback Kellen Mond.
It didn't take long, however, for the 2021 third-round pick to find a new home.
On Wednesday, the Cleveland Browns were awarded Mond after placing a waiver claim on the 23-year-old signal-caller. As a result, Mond will join the Browns' active roster, which currently includes quarterbacks Jacoby Brissett and Joshua Dobbs, as starter Deshaun Watson serves an 11-game suspension to open the 2022 season.
Cleveland's acquisition of Mond is notable, as it wasn't previously believed that the Browns would add a third quarterback to their active roster. Rather, many expected Cleveland to sign a quarterback to its practice squad for emergency purposes, just as the team had done with Nick Mullens in 2021.
While it's possible the Browns could release either Dobbs or Mond with the intent of re-signing either player to their practice squad, doing so would open Cleveland up to the risk of another team claiming them off of waivers. On Tuesday, the Browns released quarterback Josh Rosen, who they could re-sign to their practice squad should he opt not to sign somewhere else.
As for Mond, the former 4-star prospect was a four-year starter at Texas A&M, where he became one of two quarterbacks in SEC history -- along with Tim Tebow and Dak Prescott -- to amass 9,000 career passing yards and 1,500 career rushing yards. His success in College Station, however, didn't immediately translate to the pros, as he appeared in just one game during his rookie season in Minnesota before being released following his second preseason with the team.