Browns Digest

Cleveland Browns Waive 2022 Third-Round Wide Receiver Ahead Of Week 1

David Bell made the initial 53-man roster but will now be released before the season kicks off on Sunday

Spencer German

Aug 4, 2024; Cleveland Browns wide receiver David Bell (18) catches the ball during practice at the Browns training facility in Berea, Ohio. Mandatory Credit: Bob Donnan-Imagn Images
Aug 4, 2024; Cleveland Browns wide receiver David Bell (18) catches the ball during practice at the Browns training facility in Berea, Ohio. Mandatory Credit: Bob Donnan-Imagn Images / Bob Donnan-Imagn Images
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After spending a little over a week on the initial 53-man roster, wide receiver David Bell was waived by the Cleveland Browns on Thursday. No corresponding move was announced by the team at the time of Bell's release.

A 2022 third-round pick, Cleveland had high hopes for the sure-handed Purdue product. Over the course of his first two seasons in the NFL he's appeared 31 games and recorded 38 receptions for 381 yards and three touchdowns.

Last year, Bell caught 14 passes for 167 yards and scored the first three touchdowns of his career, including two in the team's season finale loss to division rival Cincinnati. His other touchdown proved to be the most significant of his young career to this point, in a 31-27 Week 13 win over the Jaguars last season.

Veteran QB Joe Flacco found him on a sit route over the middle of the field and he Bell hauled it in and broke free for a 41-yard touchdown. It proved to be the game-winning score of the game and a key moment of Bell's Browns tenure.

Throughout training camp this season Bell found himself hindered by a quad injury that he suffered in the team's first preseason game against the Packers. The ailment left him on the roster bubble heading into last Tuesday's cutdown deadline, but he ultimately survived the team's cuts.

The emergence of second-year wideout and fellow third-round pick Cedric Tillman certainly hasn't helped his cause, as Tillman had a productive preseason and training camp and is held in high esteem by the organization. Ultimately, Bell's first couple years never quite materialized into what Cleveland hoped it would when they drafted him in the third round of the NFL Draft two years ago.

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Spencer German

SPENCER GERMAN

Spencer German is a contributor to the Northeast Ohio cluster of sites, including Cavs Insider, Cleveland Baseball Insider and most notably Browns Digest. He also works as a fill-in host on Cleveland Sports Radio, 92.3 The Fan, one of the Browns radio affiliate stations in Cleveland. Despite being a Cleveland transplant, Spencer has enjoyed making Northeast Ohio home ever since he attended college locally at John Carroll University, where he graduated in 2013.

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