This just in

This is getting ridiculous. Just when you think the Browns' COVID-19 crisis couldn't get any worse, it did with suddenness late Thursday.

The Browns' starting quarterback against the Las Vegas Raiders late Saturday afternoon will not be Baker Mayfield. It was scheduled to be Case Keenum. Won't be him, either, because he joined the growing COVID-19 reserve list alongside Mayfield Thursday.

Say hello to Nick Mullens, who has dwelled on the Browns' practice squad just about all season, He suited up for an evening to back up Keenum in the Denver Thursday night victory in week seven. Keenum was subbing for the injured Mayfield.

The Browns signed Mullens a few days after he was released by Philadelphia at the beginning of the season and eventually placed him on the practice squad. He now is, at least for one game, in charge of an offense that has suffered numerous setbacks this season and underperformed.

Mullens is not a National Football League neophyte, having played three seasons with the San Francisco 49ers from 2018 to 2020, banking 16 starts with a 5-11 record. He has thrown for 4,714 yards with 25 touchdown passes and 22 interceptions, completing 64.5% of his passes.

He faced the Raiders once before when they were based in Oakland. He was 16-of-22 for 262 yards and three touchdowns in a 34-3 rout in week nine of the 2018 season. And now he gets another shot in the nationally televised game against the Raiders as he joins the you-never-know-what's-going-to-happen-next crowd.

The big question now is who will back up Mullens in the event he gets hurt? One possibility is practice squad fullback Johnny Stanton IV, who played quarterback in high school and most of his collegiate career at Saddleback College in Mission Viejo, Calif., and Nevada-Las Vegas..

As far as we know, Stanton is not on the COVID-19 reserve list. But with the speed events are happening, anything is possible. It can be safely assumed, though, General Manager Andrew Berry is scouring the free-agent wire just in case.

For sure, it is a challenge for the entire offensive staff to pull this one off successfully.