The Cleveland Browns have a few holes to resolve
The Cleveland Browns are coming into the season as expected playoff contenders and maybe even a top team to consider for the Super Bowl. There are a lot of factors to consider before leaping to “Super Bowl contention”, like if the starting quarterback you gave up a king’s ransom for is going to be suspended for his heinous behavior.
Assuming Deshaun Watson isn’t suspended for the year, the team has a shot. Now, don’t buy the hype. Everyone reporting on what Sue Robinson is doing or going to do when it comes to the ruling of his case is full of it. No one knows what she’s going to do so there’s no reason to speculate.
It could be zero games, it could be several years. No one knows, and anyone who thinks they do is selling you something. Or living in denial.
So while we wait for that ruling, it’s important to note that this team is not “loaded with talent” as many claim and this team does in fact have a lot of holes. Not many with the starting 22, granted, but there are some starting spots up for competition. Most of the spots, however, are with the non-starter but non-backup roles.
Your third receiver, your third corner, your third linebacker, etc.
So that’s what we’re looking at today, every position, the players that are up for it, and who we think is going to take home the position’s top spot on the depth chart. So without any further ado, let’s get started.
Returners
Right now the returning spot goes to Jakeem Grant, who the Cleveland Browns signed to a free agent deal to act as the team’s return man. He’s a two-time Pro Bowler with the Chicago Bears, but the Browns can basically cut him for next to no damage to their salary cap at any time, as his deal isn’t that expensive.
If he struggles, he may be an easy target, but here’s where the real point of interest comes in. The Browns are going to have two other guys who are both fighting for spots and who both may be cut in Anthony Schwartz and Demetric Felton. Both players were drafted with their pass-catching skills in mind, as well as their ability to return the ball.
Schwartz and Felton not only saw a guy get signed off the streets to fill one of their positions, but they also saw the team draft players at each of their respective positions this year as well. The team can only carry 53 men every week, and only 46 can be in uniform. There are currently 89 players on the roster and that means that some guys people don’t expect to get cut will in fact get cut.
That’s why this position is up in the air, Schwartz, and Felton both need to earn a returner spot at the very least to make the roster. Will Andrew Berry want to keep two of his biggest prospects (when they were drafted at least) or his new Pro Bowl signee? It could very well come down to this spot on special teams.
Order of wide receivers from third down
It’s safe to say that Donovan Peoples-Jones and Amari Cooper will be your top two guys. It’s not the best twosome you could ask for, but it’ll do. After that, however, is anyone’s ball game. David Bell is penciled in for the third slot but he’s failed his physical and that’s never a good sign. He’s expected to pass it, but who is to say that this issue doesn’t become recurring?
Then you have Michael Woods, Anthony Schwartz, Jakeem Grant, Ja’Marcus Bradley, Javon Simms, Mike Hartley, Isiah Weston, and Travell Harris. You have 11 receivers but only a need for five or six.
Assuming Cooper, Peoples-Jones and Bell are locks, that means some moves will have to be made. Do we assume Grant keeps a spot because he’s the return guy? That’s four, that means two stays. We can give Woods an automatic slot, as he’s a rookie. None of that protects the rest, however, because this is a big team, lots of guys.
For instance, the Browns have five running backs with Demetric Felton. He’s considered a hybrid player, capable of playing two positions, does he move over to receiver? I would stake a steak sandwich on the Browns not carrying five running backs on the main roster. Someone’s get cut or moved.
So there’s a lot still to be decided here after the top three.
The second safety
The second safety should have been M.J. Stewart, but the Cleveland Browns apparently didn’t want one of the best performing players at the position in 2021, so they let him walk. Maybe they offered him a deal and he turned it down, maybe they really thought that someone like Grant Delpit or Ronnie Harrison was just going to be that much better.
I don’t agree, but he’s gone and the position is up in the air. Harrison started last year, but he floundered at times and was benched for Stewart. Then you have Delpit, who made his pro debut in 2021, despite being drafted in 2020. An Achilles injury sidelined him for the whole year and it’s very possible that even if Delpit can stay healthy for a whole year, and start for the team, that he’ll never be what he could’ve been.
Right now it’s between Harrison and Delpit to start opposite John Johnson III, but Richard LeCounte is a darkhorse candidate as well. Like Delpit, LeCounte had a bad lower-leg injury that hindered him in his last year of college and at times as a pro. He didn’t look very good when he did get on the field and there’s no guarantee he can get better.
Admittedly, the safety spot may be the second weakest on the team. Aside from…
Starters at defensive tackle
The defensive tackle spot is the most depleted on the team. While it’s fair to say that John Johnson had a bad year in 2021, he at least has had a track record of good play prior. There is no defensive tackle who can say that, aside from maybe Tayven Bryan, and we’re not talking about a history of consistency on Johnson’s level, either. We’re just saying that he’s been more consistent at the position than anyone else on the team.
The Browns will be relying on Bryan, and a host of rookies to find success at the position. They have some veteran names like Sheldon Day and Jordan Elliot, but they don’t have that many spots to carry all of these guys. The team has seven guys, and they’ll likely only carry four, or five tops.
The starters right now seem to be leaning to Day and Bryan, but anything can happen between now and the start of the regular season. I would consider all of these players “unsafe” with regards to keeping a roster spot. Someone a bit surprising will be cut from this group. Unless Glen Logan amazes everyone, he’s an obvious candidate, and then who?
Bryan and Day are possible, and so is Elliot. Then you have rookies Roderick Perry and Perrion Winfrey, as well as second-year tackle Tommy Togiai. The team has reasons to keep all six men, but one will likely have to go; if not two.
Center and the Catch-all offensive linemen spot (aka Chris Hubbard’s position)
The Cleveland Browns‘ offensive line is the lifeblood of this team. They only go as far as the offensive line does. There are two openings on this team and they’re both getting covered here for simplicities sake.
First up is the center position, which did belong to J.C. Tretter, one of the best players at his position last season. He was cut to clear cap space, and now the team has to replace him. A lot of people just default to Nick Harris being the guy, but I think he’s just as likely to be cut as anything. See, Harris hasn’t impressed many with his play. So they brought in some talent around him.
Now, signing a guy or drafting a guy to back up Harris would make sense. The team needed some depth. Yet, signing a guy who used to start and then spending a draft pick at the position sure says to me that the Browns don’t trust Harris. Ethan Pocic or Dawson Deaton may very well push for the spot. There’s also Brock Hoffman too.
He’s not the only spot up for grabs. Chris Hubbard is the team’s sixth o-linemen. He can play just about any position needed. The team will want someone who can do that in 2022 but Hubbard may no longer be the best candidate for the Hubbard Spot, as I’m calling it. He’s 31 and coming off a major injury. With the Browns only carrying four or five reserves on the line, and guys like Blake Hance, James Hudson, Michael Dunn, Drew Forbes, Dawson Deaton, and others vying for a spot, there’s no guarantee Hubbard reclaims that spot. He very easily could be cut.
QB3
It’s fair to say that the Browns are set at quarterback, at least at spots one and two on the depth chart. What about the third spot, or “QB3”, if you will? Originally it was supposed to be Joshua Dobbs, but the Browns don’t seem to have that much faith in him as a backup. The Browns went out and signed former 2018 first-round draft pick Josh Rosen to vie for that spot. The idea is that if Watson is out for a while, a guy like Rosen or Dobbs could be a viable backup.
What’s very interesting about this is that the Browns notoriously don’t carry three quarterbacks on their everyday roster. Most teams don’t anymore. So this “competition” may be a moot point if Watson isn’t suspended.
Until we know for sure if he is or isn’t suspended and for how long, Rosen and Dobbs will challenge one another for the technically third spot on the QB depth chart. Rosen hasn’t had a lot of luck trying to get on the field, and so he’s largely a mystery as to what he can provide. Considering how much hype he had coming out of college, he may very well have some of that hype juice left over to earn him a spot over Dobbs.