Browns Final Roster Projection

With their preseason completed, it's time to narrow down the roster for the 2021 season for the Cleveland Browns. The Browns have two more weeks to prepare for their first game against the Kansas City Chiefs.

Pete Smith | Aug 30, 2021

The Cleveland Browns preseason finale did not appear to change much with the roster, save for an injury. Other than that, everything largely stayed the same. If there was a breakout performance that might have changed something, it did not occur.

The Browns have a talented roster with a few holes, but they have some assets to move and general manager Andrew Berry should be active, both in trying to capitalize, flipping players for future draft assets and potentially trying to upgrade their roster.

Quarterback (2)

Baker Mayfield, Case Keenum

Head coach Kevin Stefanski confirmed what was pretty clear. Keenum is the backup, which means that Kyle Lauletta is not going to be on the active roster. It's difficult to imagine he ends up on the practice squad. David Blough was able to warrant a trade to the Detroit Lions. In fact, he's still there.

Lauletta seems like he should at least fetch a conditional seventh based on him making a roster. Plenty of teams have nothing at backup quarterback.

Running Back (3)

Nick Chubb, Kareem Hunt, D'Ernest Johnson

The Browns are rock solid at running back and if not for the presence of the top two backs, there would be far more excitement about Johnson. He's been extremely impressive, running and catching the football, but he also blocks.

Assuming he didn't suffer a major injury after he left the game late, Kelly will find a job somewhere. He's not likely to fetch a trade but it's possible. He would be great with a team that wants a pass catching tailback as depth.

Fullback (1)

Andy Janovich

Janovich is the gold standard in fullback blocking for zone schemes, he's caught passes and he plays special teams. The only thing that could happen with Janovich is being cut for the sake of sneaking someone onto the active roster to then put them on injured reserve with the intent to designate them to return, then re-signing Janovich afterward.

Johnny Stanton, unless he is claimed from waivers, will be back on the Browns practice squad as the backup fullback.

Wide Receiver (6)

Odell Beckham, Jarvis Landry, Rashard Higgins, Donovan Peoples-Jones, Demetric Felton, Anthony Schwartz

The Browns have an embarrassment of riches at receiver combined with the fact they are going to give Schwartz a roster spot regardless of what he does between now and the start of the season.

Unless Schwartz is hurt and the Browns try to hide him on injured reserve, KhaDarel Hodge is going to be elsewhere. He is the most valuable commodity the Browns have that won't make the team.

They should be able to flip him for something. Hodge could legitimately be a third or fourth receiver for a number of teams. It may not be a huge haul, but they should be able to get a team to give up something to ensure they get him.

Davion Davis will be suspended for two games and basically be in limbo until around the start of week four. The Browns might be able to get him to the practice squad at that point as teams are more or less settled with what they have, but he will be signed off of it by a team at some point.

Ja'Marcus Bradley could get a look elsewhere as well, but he might end up on the Browns practice squad.

Jojo Natson will be cut and it would not be a shock if he goes unsigned and is available for the Browns to sign later if needed.

Tight End (3)

Austin Hooper, David Njoku, Harrison Bryant

The Browns are going to be asking themselves if they should keep their sixth or seventh tight end on the active roster and the answer is no. TE4 Stephen Carlson suffered a season-ending knee injury. TE5 Connor Davis is on injured reserve with a shoulder injury.

Jordan Franks and Kyle Markway are TE6 and TE7. They may both end up on the practice squad when all is said and done. They can then activate them if needed.

In the mean time, the Browns have offensive linemen who are simply better football players than either Franks or Markway. They carry more valuable and they could use them as a tight end in jumbo packages.

It simply doesn't make sense to keep four tight ends in this circumstance unless they trade for someone, which seems unlikely.

Offensive Line (10)

Jedrick Wills, Joel Bitonio, J.C. Tretter, Wyatt Teller, Jack Conklin, Michael Dunn, Nick Harris, Chris Hubbard, James Hudson, Blake Hance

What will likely be a significant knee injury eliminates Drew Forbes from contention, which is unfortunate. James Hudson cannot play at all right now. He's legitimately terrible, but unless this comes as a surprise to the Browns, they will carry him and he will NEVER be active this year.

This would leave the Browns without Greg Senat, Colby Gossett and Javon Patterson. Senat might fetch a conditional draft pick. He can help a team and will get snatched up elsewhere. Gossett was terrible against the Atlanta Falcons, which might enable him to get to the practice squad.

He still might get grabbed by another team because that's how bad offensive line depth is in the NFL.

Javon Patterson seems like a safe bet to end up on the practice squad as an extra center/guard.

Defensive Line (10)

Myles Garrett, Jadeveon Clowney, Malik Jackson, Takkarist McKinley, Andrew Billings, Jordan Elliott, Malik McDowell, Sheldon Day, Joe Jackson, Tommy Togiai

It's possible the Browns keep Porter Gustin over Joe Jackson. He's a pure edge rusher with speed, but he just doesn't produce the way he should at this point. Joe Jackson offers size and more versatility. The issue for him is the Browns have a lot of guys that are extremely similar to him, so they may not need him.

The immediate reaction is seeing six defensive tackles. Between uncertainty and the multitude of roles they can have them play, this could be exactly what the Browns need.

Andrew Billings has played pretty underwhelming to this point after a year off. If the Browns cut him, he carries $3.5 million in dead cap. If they trade him, it's $1.5 million. Neither of those situations are good and Billings can function in an important role.

It's also worth pointing out the Browns won't really need Billings in week one against the Kansas City Chiefs or week two against the Houston Texans, so he's got basically a month to get ready.

Both Maliks and Jordan Elliott can have shown the ability to do damage on the interior, being disruptive and generating pressure. They also happen to be the three best defensive linemen on the team right now.

Sheldon Day is a solid pro, period. The Browns can use someone they can count on and gives them exactly what they expect. It didn't hurt to see him cause problems as an edge threat at the end.

Tommy Togiai, much like James Hudson, is not Sunday ready. Togiai certainly looks better than Hudson does, but he's not Sunday ready. They aren't going to cut him, but he's going to be inactive quite a bit at least early in the year.

So if it plays out like this, the Browns let Gustin go, they let Curtis Waver go and maybe he can end up on their practice squad. Cameron Malveaux might get back to the practice squad again.

The Browns need to be able to win the line of scrimmage against the upper echelon teams in the league and the more bodies they have, the more options they have to create pressure.

If they can get them there, Marvin Wilson, Romeo McKnight and Curtis Weaver would all be targets for the practice squad.

Linebacker (5)

Anthony Walker, Sione Takitaki, Malcolm Smith, Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah, Elijah Lee

The Browns just don't have much worth keeping and they may already have players that could get the practice squad ready to go. It starts with Mack Wilson, but the safer bets are Willie Harvey and Tegray Scales. Few teams on the Browns schedule demand an extra linebacker until week 10 to 14.

Tony Fields is a wildcard, but he's still nursing a foot injury. He did practice for the first time in camp on Friday, but didn't play on Sunday. It's possible he could get waived in the end. They could also try to do some roster gymnastics with him as well as Jacob Phillips, putting them both on the active roster to then place them on injured reserve to bring back later in the year. Smith could be cut to pull off such a maneuver and then brought back immediately.

Corners (5)

Denzel Ward, Greg Newsome, Troy Hill, Greedy Williams, A.J. Green

The only potential surprise here would be if the Browns feel they need to keep a player like M.J. Stewart as a slot/safety tweener. His appeal is somewhat limited.

Emmanuel Rugamba might have the best shot to make the practice squad as a slot player.

Safety (5)

John Johnson, Ronnie Harrison, Grant Delpit, Richard LeCounte, Jovante Moffatt

Maybe there's a preferable option to Moffatt, but he's a pure strong safety that knows what the Browns want from the position, having been here since Joe Woods arrived.

Elijah Benton likely ends up on the practice squad, but don't rule out the possibility that Sheldrick Redwine ends up there as well.

Kicker (1)

Chase McLaughlin

The incumbent kicker, who has been pretty good, save for a bizarrely bad an extra point attempt was. The team could bring in competition for the next few weeks to see if someone can beat him out.

Punter (1)

Jamie Gillan

Long Snapper (1)

Charley Hughlett

Published Aug 30, 2021

PETE SMITH