Let's look at how Brown's 53-man roster shapes up
With minicamp, OTAs finished, now is a good time to take stock.
Rookie camp is CLEVELAND — done, OTAs are done, mandatory minicamp is done, and the Browns won’t take the practice field for another seven weeks. So let’s take a crack at predicting the 53-man roster for your 12-4 Cleveland Browns.
QB: Baker Mayfield, Drew Stanton, Garrett Gilbert (3)
The room: Mayfield is a 24-yearold franchise QB on the rise, while Stanton is a 35-year-old veteran and is such a coach on the field he’s actually six years older than quarterbacks coach Ryan Lindley. Gilbert, 27, makes sense as a third-string flier who flashed in the Alliance of American Football. You’d like the Browns to have a young backup with upside they can groom, and you can’t tell yet if Gilbert is that guy ... but he might be. If you haven’t seen this in Cleveland in more than a decade, this is what a reasonable QB room looks like.
RB: Nick Chubb, Dontrell Hilliard, Random Middle-Aged Veteran Dude (3)
The room: No Kareem Hunt for the first eight games while he’s suspended. No Duke Johnson for me. I don’t want the Browns to give Johnson away for nothing, but it’s hard for me to imagine him getting to September if he doesn’t want to be here, and he
has made that clear. Solid player, but I’m a little surprised by those expressing that the season could hinge on Johnson in any way.
Last season, the Rams signed C.J. Anderson in December and gave him 23 carries for 123 yards in a playoff game less than a month later. You need to protect against injuries, but even without Hunt, Johnson is no better than the seventh-best skill position player on the roster. So I’m assuming he’ll be out and the Browns will sign a random veteran to serve as their No. 2 back behind Chubb while Hunt is suspended. Meanwhile, Hlliard takes over all the things Johnson did as a combo rusher-pass catcher, since coaches talked about that over and over the last few weeks.
WR: Odell Beckham Jr., Jarvis Landry, Antonio Callaway, Rashard Higgins, Damion Ratley, Ish Hyman (6)
The room: You’d put the top four up against almost any receiver group in the league. Ratley was injured and out for minicamp, but he’s fine and I’m guessing the 2018 sixth-rounder who had 13 catches last year sticks around. Hyman flashed a lot in camp with so many veteran WRs not out there, and he’s the choice for now to win the wide-open battle for the sixth receiver spot that includes fellow undrafted rookies Dorian Baker, D.J. Montgomery and Damon Sheey-Guiseppi. Should be some practice squad guys in that group.
TE: David Njoku, Demetrius Harris, Orson Charles (3)
The room: Njoku could be ready for a breakout, Charles is more like a fullback and the Browns brought in Harris from Kansas City, so the John Dorsey connection gives him a spot. A year ago the Browns had four tight ends on the 53-man roster to open the season. But I kept an extra member of the secondary this year, which might spell trouble for Seth DeValve.
OL: Greg Robinson, Joel Bitonio, JC Tretter, Kyle Kalis, Chris Hubbard, Austin Corbett, Drew Forbes, Eric Kush, Kendall Lamm (9)
The room: I have Kalis written in as the starter at right guard between Tretter and Hubbard, because I know the Browns don’t want to hand the job to Corbett, and I’m not confident he’s going to seize it. That makes Corbett your top backup at both guard spots and center. With the release of Desmond Harrison, sixth-round pick Forbes becomes the young developmental tackle. That leaves spots for two veterans, and the Browns brought in three with starting experience in Kush, Lamm and Bryan Witzmann. This is just a guess that Kush stays as the veteran inside backup and Lamm as the veteran outside backup. Both were second-team regulars in minicamp.
DL: Myles Garrett, Sheldon Richardson, Larry Ogunjobi, Olivier Vernon, Genard Avery, Trevon Coley, Chad Thomas, Chris Smith, Carl Davis (9)
The room: Gerald McCoy would have deepened this room, but 2018 starter Coley is already a second-string tackle with the addition of Richardson. I’m listing Avery here, because while linebackers coach Al Holcomb said he’s still considered a linebacker, never once in OTAs or minicamp did I see Avery lined up there. He’s an edge rusher. So are Thomas and Smith, who were the clear second-team ends behind Garrett and Vernon. The ability to maybe slide Garrett inside at times lessons the importance of the fourth tackle, but that’s wide open. Davis (a fifth-year player who played five games last year), Daniel Ekuale (on the practice squad most of last year), and Brian Price (played 12 games last year) all worked with the second team. I lean toward Davis, the veteran re-signed in March.
LB: Christian Kirksey, Joe Schobert, Adarius Taylor, Sione Takitaki, Mack Wilson, Ray-Ray Armstrong (6)
The room: Kirksey and Schobert are the veteran starters, as the Browns should play only two linebackers in a nickel look with five defensive backs a lot. When they play a team that uses more running backs and tight ends, Taylor, signed from Tampa Bay as a free agent, got the most looks in minicamp as the third linebacker. The rest of the time, Taylor and Armstrong were typically together as the veteran linebacker backups, and third-rounder Takitaki and fifth-rounder Wilson were together as the rookie linebacker backups. Undrafted free agent rookie Willie Harvey is probably next, and he’s worth a look and should stick on the practice squad at the very least.
S: Damarious Randall, Morgan Burnett, Jermaine Whitehead, Eric Murray, Sheldrick Redwine (5)
The room: The Browns kept four safeties last year but need at least five now with the plan to have three on the field so often. Randall, Burnett and Whitehead will be those three, while Murray is a smart veteran and special teams ace. Redwine, the fourth-round pick this year, is being groomed to start in 2020.
CB: Denzel Ward, Greedy Williams, T.J. Carrie, Terence Mitchell, E.J. Gaines, Donnie Lewis (6)
The room: The Browns will use three corners a lot as well. Williams, the second-round rookie, has taken the starting outside spot opposite Ward, pushing Mitchell to second-team. If Mitchell is a backup corner, your room has some talent. Carrie is the top slot corner, while Gaines is his backup there. That leaves the fourth outside corner spot, the second-team position opposite Mitchell. Three-year veteran Lenzy Pipkins, who played with Indianapolis and Detroit last season and ended the year on the Browns’ practice squad, was there for minicamp, but that’s because Lewis, the seventh-round draft choice, was injured and working on the side. The 53rd and final roster spot might come down to a battle between those two.
Specialists: Austin Seibert, Britton Colquitt, Charley Hughlett (3)
The room: Veteran long snapper Hughlett is the sure thing. The Browns used a fifth-round pick on Seibert out of Oklahoma, so I’m guessing he’ll beat out incumbent Greg Joseph, otherwise the pick that the Browns acquired from New England for Josh Gordon will have been wasted on a failed kicker. Colquitt, the veteran punter, also has competition from Jamie Gillan, the bigfooted native of Scotland.