The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Backup jobs on line in preseason finale
Based on ticket prices, fans don’t care about the last preseason game. Who cares? Players who need jobs.
Tickets for the game between the Lions and Browns on Aug. 29 at FirstEnergy Stadium are available on Stubhub.com for as little as $6. Seats behind the West end zone are going for just $7.44 apiece.
Fans don’t care about the last preseason game. The only ones who do care are the players fighting for the last few undetermined roster spots and the coaches and general managers around the league making final evaluations. Though the game with the Lions will be absent all starters from both teams, it should be one of the more entertaining games of
the preseason because those that are playing are trying so hard to make a last good impression.
All NFL rosters must be at 53 by 4 p.m. Aug. 31. The Browns won’t practice Aug. 30, so after the game the next time Coach Freddie Kitchens looks some players in the eye will be to tell them they’re not good enough to make the team.
“It’s one of the hardest things you do as a coach,” Kitchens said after practice Aug. 27. “I know as a position coach it was the hardest thing I had to do because these guys are invested in making the team. They’re invested in you as a person if you get them the way you want them to be because you’re asking them to do tough things and hard things and they’re buying into it.”
Sometimes position coaches deliver the bad news to their respective players.
Kitchens said he and General Manager John Dorsey will personally let players know if they are being cut.
“They’ll hear from the top two,” Kitchens said. “Their position coaches will talk to them, as well, but I won’t hide in a room.
“It is a commitment. Believe me, it’s a commitment, especially when you go from 90 to 53. They’ve committed to us for a while. Some of them have been going on four months. I think we can fit it in to commit to them.”
The job of third quarterback between Garrett Gilbert and David Blough must be decided. It would seem Gilbert has the inside track. Each quarterback is expected to play a half against the Lions.
Rookie Austin Seibert probably won the kicking job with four field goals against the Buccaneers last week, but Greg Joseph will get his chance against the Lions.
Rookie punter Jamie Gillan can boot the ball further than incumbent Britton Colquitt. Will that be enough to win the job? Probably not. Colquitt offers consistency.
Plus, Colquitt was the holder on all four successful kicks by Seibert last week. Colquitt is expected to punt and Gillan hold in the game with the Lions.
Tackles Trevon Coley, Carl Davis and Devaroe Lawrence could be after two spots behind starters Sheldon Richardson and Larry Ogunjobi on the defensive line. Rookie Drew Forbes and second-year player Austin Corbett are locks as backups on the offensive line, but Dorsey and Kitchens are looking for backup tackles. If no one wins Aug. 29, it means the Browns’ backup tackles will come from the waiver wire.
The Browns need a kick returner and a punt returner.
Running back D’Ernest Johnson can do both. He is valuable to the Browns even if he doesn’t get much playing time. Johnson will likely beat out fan favorite Damon Sheehy-Guiseppi, though Sheehy could easily end up on the practice squad.
Waiving Jaelen Strong as the Browns did Aug. 27 clears some traffic at wide receiver.
The top three spots are set with Odell Beckham Jr., Jarvis Landry and Rashard Higgins.
That leaves Damion Ratley, Derrick Willies, Braxton Miller, Ishmael Hyman and Dorian Baker contesting for three spots. Ratley, Miller and Willies might have the edge, but don’t count the others out yet.
So while the starters on the sideline will be relaxing, other players will be giving everything they have to show Kitchens and Dorsey they should be part of the 2019 Browns.