CLEVELAND, Ohio (92.3 The Fan) – The last 24 hours might have been the most difficult for Browns executive vice president of football operations and general manager Andrew Berry since he took the job in January 2020.
With so much talent and depth at key positions, Berry found himself having to make some tough roster decisions.
“It's the initial 53, it's not necessarily the final 53,” Berry said. “There are certain injury situations, certain position groups where you are still juggling the dynamics over the course of the next several days. It is fluid and it's not just fluid within this first week. Roster building really is a 365-day-a-year process and it will remain fluid as we head into the regular season as well.”
All 15 NFL Draft picks from the last two years are on the team.
“The rookies are players we identified throughout the draft process last year that not only were talented but fit our smart, tough, accountable culture,” Berry said. “While they did show growth over the past weeks, all of them know they still have room to grow and areas to work on so they can be viable contributors throughout the season. We're excited about the growth and development all of them have made. We're by no means finished with that group, or even the veterans on the roster, but we're excited about the guys we have today.”
The offense returns all 11 starters and 22 of the 25 players that made this year's club were here in 2020.
“It's helpful to have the stability, especially for a unit that produced at a high level for us last year,” Berry said. “I think that continuity in Year 2 of the same system is only going to allow that group to take another step this season. We're excited about bringing that many players back.”
This offseason, Berry rebuilt the defensive roster bolstering the starting and reserve corps at all levels by adding 12 players.
"The best part about the defensive side of the ball is they've just taken the mindset of working hard and getting better every day," Berry said. "They've been incredibly responsive to the defensive staff. We still have a long way to go as a team until we're ready for the regular season but the progress has been steady throughout the month of August.”
The moves made over the last two days were as follows:
Waived: S Elijah Benton WR Ja'Marcus Bradley TE Jordan Franks G Colby Gossett DE Porter Gustin LB Willie Harvey WR KhaDarel Hodge DE Joe Jackson RB John Kelly QB Kyle Lauletta DE Cameron Malveaux, TE Kyle Markway, S Jovante Moffatt, C Javon Patterson, S Sheldrick Redwine, CB Emmanuel Rugamba, LB Tegray Scales, FB Johnny Stanton IV, T Alex Taylor (from injured reserve), DE Curtis Weaver and DT Marvin Wilson.
Terminated Contract: CB Brian Allen, DT Sheldon Day, LB Elijah Lee, WR JoJo Natson
Placed on injured reserve: OL Greg Senat, OL Drew Forbes
Placed on reserve/suspended by commissioner: WR Davion Davis (2 weeks)
Additional moves, including the establishment of the 16-man practice squad are forthcoming in the next 24 hours.
The initial roster breaks down as follows:
Offense: 25
WRs (5) – Odell Beckham Jr., Jarvis Landry, Donavan Peoples-Jones, Rashard Higgins, Anthony Schwartz
TEs (3) – Austin Hooper, David Njoku, Harrison Bryant
RBs (4) – Nick Chubb, Kareem Hunt, D’Ernest Johnson, Demetric Felton
FB (1) – Andy Janovich
OL (10) – Jedrick Wills Jr., Joel Bitonio, JC Tretter, Wyatt Teller, Jack Conklin, James Hudson III, Michael Dunn, Nick Harris, Blake Hance, Chris Hubbard
QBs (2) – Baker Mayfield, Case Keenum
Defense: 25
DL (8) – Myles Garrett, Malik Jackson, Andrew Billings, Jadeveon Clowney, Takkarist McKinley, Jordan Elliott, Malik McDowell, Tommy Togiai
LBs (7) – Mack Wilson, Anthony Walker, Sione Takitaki, Malcolm Smith, Jacob Phillips, Tony Fields II, Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah
S (4) – John Johnson III, Ronnie Harrison Jr., Grant Delpit, Richard LeCounte III
CBs (6) – Denzel Ward, Greg Newsome II, Greedy Williams, Troy Hill, A.J. Green, M.J. Stewart
Specialists: 3
LS (1) – Charley Hughlett
P (1) – Jamie Gillan
K (1) – Chase McLaughlin
