Despite what ESPN thinks, it’s unlikely the Browns will cut a cornerback

ESPN posted a column that predicted the 32 cuts or trades NFL teams could make and for the Browns, it involved Terrance Mitchell.

The Cleveland Browns aren’t done making moves this off-season, hopefully, but when ESPN looked at a move the Browns were likely to make, it involved moving on from a player John Dorsey just loved in Terrance Mitchell. Mitchell, a cornerback who’s on his fourth team in five years, only started a handful of times in his two years so far in Cleveland and wasn’t seen as much more than the team’s 3rd or 4th corner at best.

"Cleveland BrownsCornerback Terrance MitchellFormer Browns general manager John Dorsey once systematically released and traded away the draft picks of the Sashi Brown era. New Cleveland GM Andrew Berry has suggested he won’t purge the Browns’ roster of Dorsey’s favorites in response, but it does make sense to move on from Mitchell, who is owed $3 million in 2020 and would likely be the fourth corner behind Denzel Ward, Greedy Williams and Kevin Johnson. The Browns didn’t draft a cornerback, which might give Mitchell a respite, but they did guarantee undrafted free agent A.J. Green $145,000 to join the team. And yes, that name is correct."

Now of all the guys that would be on the chopping block, Mitchell isn’t one that jumps out at you. He’s not someone that you’d think of as a casualty of the cap, nor is he someone playing at an oversaturated position. As stated above, Mitchell isn’t in a stacked position. Better believe that before training camp is over, someone from that offensive line is getting cut, but that’s because they went out and acquired a bunch of new talent while only really getting rid of one guy.

The corners on this team were not bolstered through the NFL Draft or free agency like the offensive line. They’re also not a position stacked with expensive contracts, with Mitchell probably making the most at $4 million for one more year. Someone like Olivier Vernon makes more sense but that’s only to clear cap space this year.

The only way it makes sense to cut a nickel corner who’s making a reasonable sum for just one more year is if Browns GM Andrew Berry was trying to purge the roster of as many John Dorsey signed guys as possible without affecting the cream of the crop. After all, that’s what Ray Farmer did, purging the roster of the team’s two best defensive players in D’Qwell Jackson and T.J. Ward for less talented, older, and more expensive guys. All done because those weren’t his” guys.

Is that the case here? We’ll have to wait and see.