Which five Cleveland Browns players are most likely to be cut tomorrow
By Chad Porto
Five players who won’t be on the Browns’ regular season roster after tomorrow.
The Cleveland Browns have to be at 85 players tomorrow afternoon, which means five players have to go. Now, I’m only listing four to be cut, as an injury to one player may allow the Browns to place him on injured reserved, opening up a roster spot but keeping the player.
To be clear, this is the hardest of the cutdown days. The team wants to keep as many bodies as possible to eat up most of the preseason games as possible. So you’re really looking at positions of deep depth to cut from first.
So while certain guys like Anthony Schwartz or John Kelly make sense, keep in mind the Browns probably won’t play Amari Cooper or Nick Chubb more than a series or two this entire preseason, and the Browns will want bodies to throw out there instead.
Also, I’m not cutting any quarterbacks just yet. I don’t see the need to cut them when the team may be without Deshaun Watson for the entire season. When that decision comes down, we’ll look to see how that affects the team, as losing Watson may mean the team dumps one, or all three of the other backups depending on what they do next.
Five moves the Cleveland Browns may make on Tuesday
WR Javon Wims
Unfortunately for Javon Wims, he wasn’t a draft pick by the Cleveland Browns. Andrew Berry seems deadset on exhausting each and every one of his drafts picks before he guts them. As of right now, in year three of his regime, he’s yet to let one single guy he’s drafted go. With so many receivers on the team, and none really making too much headway, a guy like Wims is an easy target. He’s among the oldest, least accomplished, and lowest ceiling guys the team has.
TE Marcus Santos-Silva
Everything that was said about Wims but also to Marcus Santos-Silva. He’s a 25-year-old rookie, at a position where the top three guys are largely considered a lock (David Njoku, Harrison Bryant, and then FB/TE Johnny Stanton). The team is really just trying to figure out who the fourth tight end will be. His being a college basketball player, and having no formal football experience won’t help him.
OT Ben Petrula
Ben Petrula wasn’t great. Aside from the fact he couldn’t get good movement off the line when people lined up over him, he also had a costly penalty that brought back a touchdown. He’s not among the five worst players on the team, but the team isn’t likely to cut interior linemen, defensive tackles, defensive backs, or wide receivers any time soon. Not with the risk of injury.
LB Chris Odom
This is a case of last in, first out. Chris Odom hasn’t done anything egregious to be cut. Unfortunately for him, as with everyone else on this list up until now, none of them have any stock put into them. Cutting them doesn’t affect the team’s reputation at all. As mentioned before Schwartz was a high draft pick and even though he’s been rump roast since arriving in the NFL, cutting him before you’ve exhausted every opportunity beforehand, really doesn’t make you look good.
Nick Harris (IR Designation)
Now, correct me if I’m wrong but I’m pretty sure if the Browns put Nick Harris on the IR in the preseason, it will count as cutting a player. I do know that if you place a player on the IR during the preseason, he’s out for the year and it appears Harris is heading that way anyway. Doing this should keep him off the Browns’ 53-man roster but also retain him for 2023 should they opt to not cut him next off-season.