CLEVELAND, Ohio (92.3 The Fan) – A pair of 2018 draft picks were cut by the Browns as the team reduced its active roster to 53 in advance of the 4 p.m. eastern deadline to do so Saturday.
Defensive end Chad Thomas and receiver Damion Ratley, selected by former general manager John Dorsey in the third and sixth rounds of the 2018 Draft, were among the 24 players cut by new executive vice president of football operations and general manager Andrew Berry.
“We always take and evaluate all the training camp practices, evaluate every snap, every rep and really try and get as good of a feel for our guys as we can,” Berry said. “We worked closely with our coaches and solicited their feedback as well as from our pro staff and our scouts. We really spent a lot of time on our roster. Where it's a little bit different is you don't get the preseason games, but we feel like we had enough information, enough film to make informed decisions on all 53 guys who made the team based on the practices we had throughout this month.”
Thomas was picked 67th overall and made little impact after sitting most of his rookie year. He played in all 16 games last year, starting seven of them, where he totaled 26 tackles, four sacks and a fumble recovery but Porter Gustin had a strong camp and came on strong while Myles Garrett recovered from a hamstring injury to make the initial roster.
A groin injury slowed Ratley’s ability to compete at receiver during camp this year. He appeared in 26 games with six starts over two seasons totaling 25 catches for 344 yards and one touchdown.
Running back Dontrell Hilliard was also cut paving the way for D’Ernest Johnson to make the team as the third back behind Nick Chubb and Kareem Hunt as well as returner.
Hilliard appeared in 25 games the last two seasons where he totaled 13 carries for 49 yards and two touchdowns while adding 21 catches for 197 yards. His biggest contributions came in the return game that saw him total 685 kickoff return yards over two seasons and 107 punt return yards.
The Browns have decided to keep two quarterbacks on the active 53-man roster and cut quarterbacks Garrett Gilbert and Kevin Davidson.
Running back Benny LeMay, fullback Johnny Stanton, receivers Taywan Taylor and Ja’Marcus Bradley, offensive linemen Jon Toth, Alex Taylor (injury), Bradley Aiello, Michel Dunn and Willie Wright, defensive linemen Daniel Ekuale and Robert McCray, linebackers Solomon Ajayi, Willie Harvey and Montrel Meander, cornerbacks Donovan Olumba, Robert Jackson and A.J. Green as well as safeties Elijah Benton and Javonte Moffatt were also waived.
