BEREA — Tyler Huntley understands how the NFL works. As Michael Corleone said in "The Godfather": "It's not personal; it's strictly business."

The business side of football is what led the quarterback they call "Snoop" to find himself making the move this offseason from the organization that brought him into the league, the Baltimore Ravens, to one of that organization's chief division rivals, the Browns. Huntley signed a one-year veteran minimum deal with Cleveland in March despite the team already having three quarterbacks under contract: Deshaun Watson, Jameis Winston and Dorian Thompson-Robinson.

Huntley's own business decision, though, may have had admittedly been tinged with a bit of personal.

"Yeah, we were just slimming down the options," Huntley told the Beacon Journal in an exclusive interview earlier this week. "I talked to my agent and was like, I would love to play the Baltimore Ravens a couple times a year. And we slimmed it down to a couple teams and we was in contact with Browns and, yeah, that's how it was."

The surprise of Huntley's signing was because of the way he had performed during his four years with the Ravens after being signed as an undrafted free agent out of the University of Utah. While Baltimore had Lamar Jackson as the established starter, the two-time NFL Most Valuable Player's injury history had opened the door for his backup to get plenty of chances to showcase himself.

That's what Huntley did 22 times either in the regular season or playoffs over those four seasons backing up Jackson. Of those, 10 were starts, almost every one of them dripping with high stakes as the Ravens contended for either an AFC North title or an AFC wild card berth.

Huntley made four December starts in both the 2021 and 2022 seasons because of season-ending injuries for Jackson. His performance in the 2022 season — when the Ravens went 4-4 with him under center despite him also battling shoulder and wrist injuries and earned a wild card berth — helped garner him a spot in the Pro Bowl after he was initially chosen as an alternate for the event.

Which is why Huntley said he's perfectly suited to be in a position to step in at a moment's notice.

"It's just being ready at all times," Huntley said. "It's a long season, so you never know what's going to go on. Yeah, just preparing me for when the time do come that I do come about starting, I'll be well prepared."

There's some around the Ravens organization who think the pathway to Huntley's departure from Baltimore started in his one playoff start after the 2022 season. Early in the fourth quarter of Baltimore's wild card game at the Cincinnati Bengals, he tried a quarterback sneak near the goal line but fumbled and Cincinnati's Sam Hubbard returned it 98 yards to give the Bengals the lead for good.

Huntley had tried to go high on the sneak, while Ravens coach John Harbaugh said after the game that the design of the play was for him to go low. Regardless, the ball went the other way and, a year later, Huntley and the Ravens went their own separate ways.

Months later, Huntley said there was no real reason given why the Ravens didn't want to bring him back.

"Not really," Huntley said. "They had just played Lamar. That's just how it went. … I definitely got to take it as just business at the end of the day. That's what it comes down to."

About the same time as Huntley found himself suddenly in a professional crossroads in life, he also found a personal one as well. While the Ravens were closing in on both the AFC North title and No. 1 seed in the AFC playoffs last December, he became a father.

His son, Tyler Jr., was born on Dec. 14 of last year. Three days after his son turned 3 months old on March 17, Huntley agreed to his deal with the Browns.

"It helped me grow as a man," Huntley said. "Just learning, learning that one day my son is going to have to be in situations, and now I go into situations just thinking more of how would it affect my son and my family. So definitely I take those two thoughts as right when I'm in a situation, I take those thoughts and definitely transfer them over."

Right now, Huntley is in a situation where he's in a full-on battle with Thompson-Robinson, the second-year pro, to be the Browns' No. 3 quarterback. Deshaun Watson, now healthy after season-ending shoulder surgery last November, is on schedule to start the season opener Sept. 8 against the Dallas Cowboys, while Jameis Winston is slotted in as the backup.

Huntley had his first real audition last Saturday in the Browns' preseason opener against the Green Bay Packers, when he came in after Winston took the first offensive drive and piloted the team for the remainder of the half. He finished 6-of-9 passing for 41 yards, with another 13 yards on two rushing attempts.

"He’s done a nice job," Browns coach Kevin Stefanski said after Thursday's second joint practice with the Vikings. "I really like that; that entire room’s worked very, very hard. They do a great job in the meeting room, they do an outstanding job out here on the field. And then these game reps are additional opportunities for them.”

More than the statistics, Huntley has given people around the league, not just the Browns, a reminder of what he's capable of doing. He'll get another such opportunity in Saturday's second preseason game against the Minnesota Vikings, although the structure will be flipped with Thompson-Robinson getting the start and playing the entire first half.

Huntley will get all of the second-half reps against the Vikings. He acknowledged that, while its definitely live reps against another team's defense, it's still just a practice game and lacking the intensity and scheme questions that a regular-season or playoff game possesses.

Unlike a lot of quarterbacks currently fighting to say on as the third-stringer, Huntley knows what the difference is between the two. His first extended action in a game with the Ravens was a playoff game against the Buffalo Bills in January 2021 when he was called upon to replace an injured Jackson.

"They definitely forgot about me," Huntley said. "But just being in a preseason game, it is a little harder to just prove myself again because the plays are simplified. … I sat a little bit in Baltimore, but time will tell, and I feel like the opportunity's going to come where I'm going to have a chance to prove myself again or not. It's going to be a great thing."

That may not be in Cleveland. Part of the showcasing both Huntley and Thompson-Robinson in the first two preseason games is that it can create a market for teams desperate for a quarterback at the end of the preseason to come calling.

That's what the Browns did with Joshua Dobbs a year ago, trading him to the Arizona Cardinals two days before their preseason finale at the Kansas City Chiefs. That's not to say a deal could be coming before next Saturday's preseason finale at the Seattle Seahawks, nor that it's come up.

"I haven't said anything about that," Huntley said. "Right now, just learning the offense and just building, just continue to build, stack days and we'll worry about things when it comes down to it."

It's not personal, after all. It's strictly business.

Chris Easterling can be reached at ceasterling@thebeaconjournal.com. Read more about the Browns at www.beaconjournal.com/sports/browns. Follow him on X at @ceasterlingABJ

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Tyler Huntley wants a shot to prove himself, with Browns or elsewhere