Bills agree to acquire quarterback Case Keenum in trade with Browns

A league source confirmed to The Buffalo News on Saturday that the team has agreed to a trade with the Cleveland Browns in which it will acquire quarterback Case Keenum in exchange for a 2022 seventh-round draft pick. NFL Network was first to report the deal.

The Bills announced the trade Sunday morning.

Keenum, 34, is entering the final year of a three-year contract and has a $6.1 million base salary for the 2022 season. A league source told The News the Browns will absorb at least some of that cost. Keenum had a $1 million roster bonus that was due Friday – according to a report from Cleveland.com beat writer Mary Kay Cabot, the Browns paid that out. 

Keenum played in seven games last season for Cleveland, including going 2-0 in his two starts. For his career, he's made 64 career starts in the regular season in 76 career appearances. The Bills will be his seventh team, following stints with Houston (2013-14), St. Louis/Los Angeles (2015-16), Minnesota (2017), Denver (2018), Washington (2019) and Cleveland (2020-21).

Keenum, a native of Abilene, Texas, is 6-foot-1 and 215 pounds. He has thrown for 14,876 yards, 78 touchdowns and 48 interceptions in his career. His best season came in 2017 with the Vikings, when he went 11-3 in 14 starts and completed 325-of-481 passes (67.6%) for 3,547 yards, 22 touchdowns and seven interceptions. Keenum led the Vikings into the playoffs that year, and in the divisional round against the New Orleans Saints, he threw a walk-off, 61-yard touchdown pass to current Bills receiver Stefon Diggs – a play that has come to be known as the "Minnesota Miracle." In two postseason starts, Keenum has gone 53 of 88 for 589 yards, two touchdowns and three interceptions.

Keenum was praised for the leadership he showed in Cleveland, and for how he supported embattled Browns starter Baker Mayfield. That's an important element of the job for a backup quarterback. The Browns on Friday agreed to trade for Texans quarterback Deshaun Watson, and thus are also expected to trade Mayfield at some point. Cleveland signed Jacoby Brissett on Saturday to replace Keenum as the No. 2 quarterback.

Backup quarterback was a need for the Bills after Mitchell Trubisky signed a two-year deal with the Pittsburgh Steelers at the start of free agency and Davis Webb bolted earlier in the offseason for the New York Giants. 

Additionally, a league source told The News that things remain on track for quarterback Matt Barkley to return, as well, setting up the potential for the depth chart to look like this: 1. Allen, 2. Keenum, 3. Barkley. There is also the potential of Barkley going to the practice squad, which is the role Webb filled last season. 

On Friday, General Manager Brandon Beane made it clear he was close to adding behind Allen.

"I've got some things in the works for there," he said. "Hopefully early next week, we'll have that resolved, but (we) do have some things. It's an important position. I feel pretty good that we're going to find the right fit."

Later, when mentioning that the Bills were tight to the salary cap, Beane said that took into account the money needed for a backup quarterback, which would suggest that he knew what Keenum's contract will count against the salary cap.

After trading away a seventh-rounder, the Bills are scheduled to have eight picks in next month's NFL draft.