Cleveland Browns: 4 positions still with big question marks

The Cleveland Browns have at least three positions that they need to figure out before the season starts.

The answers may already be on the roster for all we know, but the Cleveland Browns still have some uncertainty when it comes to who’s going to be doing what when the season begins. The team may still make some more moves after all Andrew Berry said the team would always be open to improving the roster no matter when or where the team is at.

Hence Jadeveon Clowney’s talk’s heading into late-June. That’s not to say the team will make a trade for a Jamal Adams type or go get Larry Warford in free agency to fill these holes. No, that’s not what this list is about. It’s simply acknowledging that we still don’t know who will fill certain starting spots yet, and to keep an eye on these during training camp.

To clarify things, yes, the left defensive end spot is open. More or less. It all depends on what happens if Clowney signs or if the team sticks with Vernon Olivier. So we’re going to avoid that one for now.

Let’s hop in.

Slot Reciever

We know who the starting receivers and tight end will be, but what about that ever so important third receiver? Will it be the favorite, Rashard Higgins? What about a younger player like Donovan Peoples-Jones? Maybe someone less known like Damion Ratley and Jojo Natson? Right now the team isn’t very set on who will be the slot guy/third receiver when the season starts. It should also be noted, that the team won’t lean as heavily on sets of three or more receivers as often as they have in recent years. So it may not be a big sticking point.

Safety

The team will run a unit with mostly three safeties according to Joe Wood. That means finding three able bodies. Originally the thought was that Karl Joseph and Andrew Sendejo would start, then the team drafted Grant Delpit, meaning someone was going to be out of a spot. Yet, with the news that there’ll be three safeties, it looks like they are the three most obvious names but who knows? Sendejo and Joseph are no guarantees if the last two years or so is any indication and Delpit is an unknown quantity. He might be a total bust. We won’t know for a few months more.

Linebacker

The two obvious choices to start for the team at linebacker are Mack Wilson and Sione Takitaki, yet like other positions on this list, both men still have to show something to earn that spot. Wilson seems almost a lock to start at the position but that doesn’t mean he is. Takitaki, on the other hand, is going to get the first crack presumably but that’s no promise he ends up walking away with the job. Not when B.J. Goodson is angling to start. It’s very possible all three names see extensive game time but in Wood’s scheme, there will only be two primary linebackers.

Right Guard

The right guard is still up in the air, and it’s uncertain who will walk into the start of the season at the position. Right now Wyatt Teller is seen by many to be the incumbent but after a lackluster outing last year, Teller could be on his way to the bench. He could also have a big year with improved allies to the right and left of him in new tackles Jedrick Wills and Jack Conklin.

What other positions do you think are up in the air?