Scraps R Us

Probably wasting my time, but trying to figure out what makes Austin Davis and Robert Turbin so darn valuable that Mike Pettine is practically drooling over obtaining them is causing a headache.

Can’t understand the two latest roster moves because of what they yielded: more mediocrity. Just what this club needs.

The Browns couldn’t leap on Davis and Turbin quickly enough when their names appeared on the waiver wire. Neither player has exactly distinguished himself thus far in their respective National Football League careers.

One has to wonder why the St Louis Rams waived Davis and the Seattle Seahawks parted ways with Turbin. Hmmmm. Maybe it’s because they’re not that good. The Browns seem to be in the business of picking up scraps.

Explained Pettine to the media Friday, “We had a chance to add a player (Davis) we had positive reports on and a guy (Turbin) we had done a lot of research on before.” The Turbin move bumped quarterback/wide receiver Terrelle Pryor from the roster in what seems to be a bizarre move given the excitement surrounding his signing.

Davis was waived because the Rams were satisfied with Case Keenum and Sean Mannion backing up Nick Foles. And Turbin became available when the Seahawks picked up Fred Jackson following his release by the Buffalo Bills.

So what makes these two guys so special that the Browns practically soiled themselves when they popped up on the waiver wire?

In Davis’ case, perhaps it’s the fact he’s right now a better NFL quarterback than Johnny Manziel, whose sore elbow makes him probably the league’s weakest backup quarterback this weekend.

Davis, an undrafted free agent who has hung around the NFL for the last three seasons with the Rams and Miami Dolphins, started eight games for the injured Shaun Hill in St. Louis last season.

He knocked off the defending Super Bowl champion Seahawks en route to a 3-5 record and has completed 63.4% of his 284 career passes for 2,000 yards, 12 touchdowns and nine interceptions.

Turbin, meanwhile, has been tethered to the Seattle bench for most of the last three seasons, watching Marshawn Lynch shred opposing defenses. He arrives with a high ankle sprain he says will take another month to heal.

Strictly a north-south runner, he appeared in all 48 games in the last three seasons, starting three (all last season). He has compiled 928 yards on the ground and another 427 yards through the air, scoring just twice.

Based on those stats, no longer does one have to wonder why Davis and Turbin wound up on waivers. They wore out their respective welcomes. The only thing they have in common is they were jettisoned because, at the risk of being repetitive, they were deemed not good enough.

And now, they are getting second chances on a team that seems to be just desperate enough to gamble on them. The offensive side of the ball needs all the help it can get. After all, what have they got to lose? The Browns, not Davis and Turbin.