Cleveland Browns: Top 6 Position Battles at Camp

Jul 30, 2015; Berea, OH, USA; Cleveland Browns wide receiver

(87) works against Cleveland Browns defensive back

(27) during training camp at the Cleveland Browns practice facility. Mandatory Credit: Ken Blaze-USA TODAY Sports

The weather is getting a littler cooler. The sun is setting earlier and the fantasy football analysts are getting their drafts ready.  This can only mean one thing, the NFL is back! Each team is ready for a new beginning. They along with their fans, believe that this can be their year to make the playoffs or win the Super Bowl. However, there are teams that are rebuilding and still trying to find that foundation to build their team around.

That is where the Cleveland Browns come in.

After going 7-9 last season, the Browns still failed to find an identity offensively and defensively. They ranked 23rd on both sides of the ball and needed to address their issues through the draft and free agency.  They drafted Danny Shelton, Nate Orchard, Xavier Cooper, Ibraheim Campbell, Charles Gaines, Hayes Pullard and Ifo Ekpre-Olomu to add depth defensively.

They also signed defensive veterans Randy Starks and Tramon Williams. GM Ray Farmer‘s obvious agenda was to fix the defense–but he didn’t do a lot to fix the offensive issues that have plagued the Browns since 1999.

While Josh McCown had a great year in 2013 with the Chicago Bears, but struggled with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers last season, he still isn’t a quarterback that fans and even the team can expect to be around for the long term. There are hopes that Johnny Manziel will be the future of the team. He looks more poised and confident in the pocket, but he still has a long way to go before he can be considered a franchise player.

Duke Johnson, Malcolm Johnson, Randall Telfer, Vince Mayle and Cameron Erving were all drafted to add offensive depth. Dwayne Bowe, Brian Hartline and Rob Housler were signed to add to the receiving core with Josh Gordon suspended and Jordan Cameron signing with the Miami Dolphins.

Those are good potential players to have, but there were a lot of questions from NFL analysts about how much of an impact they will make for this Browns offense this season. Hopefully for the Browns, it will all remain to be seen.

There have been some interesting battles throughout training camp and these are six of the most important ones going on:

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