Cleveland Browns sign Bailey Zappe to practice squad after keeping Shedeur Sanders on 53-man roster

The Cleveland Browns are signing veteran quarterback Bailey Zappe to its practice squad days before the 2025 season kicks off, NFL Network‘s Tom Pelissero reported Wednesday afternoon. He becomes the fourth quarterback on Cleveland’s roster, joining week one starter Joe Flacco, Dillon Gabriel and Shedeur Sanders.

Zappe spent the 2025 NFL preseason with the Kansas City Chiefs. In three games, the former Hilltopper completed 15/27 passes for 104 yards and two interceptions. This will mark Zappe’s second stint with Cleveland, as he first signed with the Browns in October 2024 following Deshaun Watson‘s achilles tear.

Another QB in Cleveland: The #Browns are signing Bailey Zappe to the practice squad, per source.

So the QB room now includes Joe Flacco, Dillon Gabriel, Shedeur Sanders and Zappe, who previously spent part of last season in Cleveland. pic.twitter.com/OQKupoLKBc

— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) August 27, 2025

Zappe was unranked coming out of Victoria East (Victoria, TX) in the Class of 2017. He originally committed to Houston Baptist, where he’d play from 2017-2020. He transferred to Western Kentucky for his final season of college football however and poured in one of the single greatest (statistical) seasons in history.

In 2021, Zappe passed for 5,967 yards (most passing yards in a season in FBS history) and 62 touchdowns (most passing touchdowns in a season in FBS history). For his efforts, he was named C-USA Player of the Year and was selected in the Fourth Round of the 2022 NFL Draft by the New England Patriots.

Zappe has played in 14 career NFL games with Patriots/Browns

With New England, Zappe appeared in 14 career games (eight starts). He led the Patriots to a 4-4 record as they dealt with their Mac Jones problem in a post-Tom Brady era, passing for 2,053 yards, 11 touchdowns and 12 interceptions. Zappe was waived prior to the 2024 season and quickly latched on with the Kansas City Chiefs practice squad.

He remained with Kansas City’s practice squad until October, when he was poached by the Browns 53-man roster. He started for Cleveland in last season’s season finale against the Baltimore Ravens, where he passed for 170 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions in a 35-10 loss.

“I’d love to be here,” Zappe said following that game last season. “Personally, I don’t know if there’s anything set in stone, maybe my agent does, but I don’t. I like to say I can be a starter in this league but if you look back in this game, there’s decisions that can’t be made in order for me to be a starter. Two turnovers can’t happen. If I want to be a starter in this league, that can’t happen.”

Cleveland will now roll into the 2025 season with three quarterbacks on the 53-man roster and Zappe on the practice squad. The Browns host the Cincinnati Bengals on Sept. 7 at 1:00 PM on FOX to kick off their campaign.