Bills acquire Case Keenum in a trade with Browns to serve as Josh Allen's backup

Just as it was last year when Brandon Beane signed Mitchell Trubisky, the Buffalo Bills general manager went into this offseason knowing that he had to make sure he remained fortified at the most important position in sports.

And so, with Trubisky signing a free agent deal with the Steelers, and third-stringer Davis Webb following Brian Daboll to the Giants leaving superstar starter Josh Allen as the only QB on the roster, Beane swung a trade that was made official Sunday morning, acquiring veteran Case Keenum from the Browns in exchange for a seventh-round pick in the 2022 draft.

“That’s an important position; we know the quarterback position is the ultimate in all sports,” Beane said a few weeks ago at the NFL Scouting Combine. “We’re going to look high and low. We’ll look in free agency, we can trade, we could draft, we could do all the above. But we definitely need to find that piece, because we know how Josh plays. And as much as I always want Josh to get down, Josh sometimes sees the play all the way through and it’s a 17-game season, so we’ll definitely have to find the right answer there.”

Beane may not be done, either, as there are signs pointing toward him bringing back Allen’s backup from 2018-20, Matt Barkley, as a third option which would give the Bills unusually impressive depth.

Keenum is the very definition of a journeyman as he has traversed all over the NFL landscape since entering the league as an undrafted free agent in 2013 out of the University of Houston.

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In college, Keenum put up incredible numbers for the Cougars. He graduated as the all-time Division I leader in completions (1,546), passing yards (19,217) and passing touchdowns (155), plus had a record 39 games of 300 yards or more passing. No player in NCAA history can match Keenum’s three 5,000-yard passing seasons.

Still, no team picked him in the draft, writing him off as a system quarterback who lit up inferior competition.

Keenum stayed in Houston and signed with the Texans where he played two years, then began a whirlwind as he moved on to the Rams, Vikings, Broncos, Commanders and Browns. For four consecutive seasons (2016-19), he was the starting quarterback for four different teams - the Rams in 2016, Vikings in 2017, Broncos in 2018 and Commanders in 2019.

When Keenum was the Vikings starter in 2017, he threw one of the most memorable passes in franchise history, a 61-yard touchdown to his new Bills teammate, Stefon Diggs, in the final seconds, giving Minnesota a stunning victory over New Orleans in an NFC wild-card playoff game.

That year, Diggs caught 64 passes for 849 yards and eight TDs, almost all of that from Keenum.

He has completed 62.4% of his career passes and has averaged 195.7 yards passing per game with 78 TDs and 48 interceptions. He has started 64 of the 76 NFL games he has played.

Keenum was Baker Mayfield’s backup the last two seasons in Cleveland, but things have taken a drastic turn there with the Browns signing DeShaun Watson to be their starter, and also bringing in Jacoby Brissett. They are now trying to trade Mayfield.

Sal Maiorana can be reached at maiorana@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter @salmaiorana.

This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: Case Keenum traded to Buffalo Bills from Cleveland Browns