A day before the deadline for getting to 75 players, the Browns have moved from 89 players to 80.
Gone are: offensive lineman [Jake Anderson], offensive lineman [Matt Cleveland], defensive back [Emanuel Davis], linebacker [JoJo Dickson], punter [Spencer Lanning], receiver [Carlton] Mitchell, receiver [Bert Reed], receiver [Jermaine Saffold], and receiver [Owen Spencer].
Mitchell was a sixth-round pick in 2010. He appeared in 11 games last season and three as a rookie in 2010. He has three career receptions.
All players will be subject to the waivers system. The Browns need to cut five more players before Monday at 4:00 p.m. ET.
It’s uncanny. Every time Pat Shurmur starts a press briefing outside, a garbage truck backs up to a nearby trash bin and makes it impossible to hear.
The first thing Shurmur did after moving his briefing inside Sunday was to say good riddance to the garbage truck.
With that, two weeks before the season opener, Shurmur turned his thoughts to garbage time, preseason game No. 4 Thursday against the Bears.
Usually, this is a throw-away game, one last chance to charge face value for watching practice. Shurmur, though, is in an unusual spot, needing to use the Bears to help break in his rookie quarterback, needing to come up with a plan at running back.
There is no chance Trent Richardson will play Thursday, but Shurmur said the rookie No. 3 overall draft pick is making “great progress” in the wake of an Aug. 9 knee scope.
Shurmur said he is “very optimistic” about Richardson playing in the Sept. 9 opener against the Eagles.
Browns fans worry about what Richardson can bring and how he will hold up if he does play.
“Backup running back” has become one of the biggest jobs in Berea. Montario Hardesty has lost two big fumbles that have thrust Brandon Jackson into the spotlight.
Jackson figures to start Thursday night, as Richardson misses his fourth straight game. Hardesty started the first three games, but his file is now stained by bobbles that led to two opponent touchdowns within six days.
“If you do it on a consistent basis,” Shurmur said of fumbling, “it’s tough to put you in the game.”
After Sunday’s sweltering practice, in which Hardesty did very little, he did not act as if he was being punished.
“I’m good,” he said. “Just getting a little rest today.”
Jackson clearly was energized by working with the ones, but he did not assume this was a promotion.
“I don’t know yet,” he said. “I don’t want to jump the gun.”
Jackson started 13 games for the Packers in 2010 but lost the 2011 season in Cleveland, where he signed as a free agent, to what he called “a very severe” case of turf toe.
“I didn’t have surgery,” he said. “It was just a toe. Thank God for that.”
Jackson, 26, was a No. 63 overall draft pick out of Nebraska in 2007. Hardesty, 25, was a No. 59 overall pick out of Tennessee in 2010.
They are close in age and draft position, but not NFL opportunities.
Jackson has run 347 times for 1,329 yards (3.8 average) and seven touchdowns. He has caught 110 passes for 844 yards and two TDs.
Hardesty has run 88 times for 266 yards (3.0) and caught 14 passes for 122 yards. He has not scored a touchdown.
As to whether first-stringers will face Chicago, Shurmur said some will and some won’t.
He would not specify which starters will take the field, but the best guess is that quarterback Brandon Weeden will be one of them, and that he will get at least two series worth of work.
The backup quarterback market started rolling with [Tarvaris Jackson] moving from Seattle to Buffalo, but the other name everyone expected in that mix might not be going anywhere.
Browns coach Pat Shurmur praised [Colt McCoy] extensively Sunday, [creating the impression he wants to keep McCoy as his backup].
“I think he’s done an outstanding job here in training camp,” Shurmur said, via Mary Kay Cabot of the Cleveland Plain Dealer. “I’m very pleased with where he’s at. I gained an even greater appreciation of him, the way he’s competed, the way he’s handled the situation, let’s just call it that. I’m very impressed with how he’s doing.
“I think that’s good for our team. He understands one of the primary things you need to understand as a backup at this point — to be ready to play — because you’re ankle injury from being in there, and he’s been on both sides of that coin and so he understands it.”
McCoy posted a 138.0 rating working with the second offense against the Eagles, and his preseason rating’s an impressive 119.1. He’s looked good in the preseason before, but Shurmur said he’s impressed with how McCoy’s handled things.
“He’s had a full year now — a season and a full offseason to get to know our system better and I think it’s showing up that way,” Shurmur said. “So I’ve got a great deal of respect for what he’s done.”
Shurmur’s also said Thad Lewis as a player “worth developing,” creating the obvious speculation that there’s one job for either [Seneca Wallace] or McCoy.
McCoy would have more value to another team, but if you take Shurmur at face value (and this time of year, you most definitely should not with any coach), he might be staying put.
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One Xtra large coffee
i dont think they will play them that long against Da Bears . they will set some of them .
i about gouged my eyes out watching the Eagles game
they stunk it up pretty good . I would cut Hardsty . he is a total BUST ..Now he added fumbling to not being able to catch ..run or block .
end of the season more changes on the way . i am sure that Haslam will clean house . i dont blame him . Heckert is ovverated IMHO . he can be replaced . he cant draft a healthy runningback for starters .
Hardesty is a total BUST & TRich has more surjuries than carrys
where we keep the starters in for 2-3 quarters series
That's the usual course of action for Game 4. But, by Gawd they were awful. Could use some more work in my opinion, especially if they "held back" because the Eagles are our Week 1 opponent and didn't want to show them anything. Well.....they showed absolutely nothing. And it scares the hell outta me if, on the off chance, they weren't "holding back".where we keep the starters in for 2-3 quarters series
Fixed it for ya, Duff.
. . . you are so full of kool aid that it's coming out your ears.
i saw the new Nike jerseys last night ..after i picked up the new Madden game at midnight ..i like them . the all white is still there with a nice twist . more orange .
BEREA, Ohio — For a long time, Browns fans have wanted the team to address the offensive line through the draft.
Tom Heckert has done so in his three years as GM with the drafting of [Shawn Lauvao], Todd Pinkston, [Mitchell Schwartz] and [Ryan Miller] in that time span. Prior to Heckert’s arrival, Phil Savage used the third pick overall in 2007 to select left tackle [Joe Thomas]. Eric Mangini used a first-round pick to take center [Alex Mack] in 2009.
In summary, the Browns this year, are expecting to start two players selected in the first-round, one each from the second-, third- and fifth-rounds—all drafted by the Browns. If the personnel evaluators were right on those players, the Browns could have a good line for a long time.
Last week, against the Eagles, the line looked anything but good or cohesive as the Eagles sacked Browns quarterbacks five times.
The good news is was the preseason.
The bad news is the Browns play the Eagles in the first regular season game on Sept.9. The Eagles led the NFL with 50 sacks last season.
“I think we’re going to be ready for Week 1,” Pinkston said after practice Tuesday. “So we’re not going to buy into everyone’s, ‘Oh, no, here we go.’ That’s not a concern in our room at all.
“As a group we didn’t do our best, but some of the outside people they don’t really know what’s going on the offense,” Pinkston said. “They don’t know what plays are called or what protection’s supposed to happen or what goes on in a certain play.
“We know what’s going on in the building, so we don’t worry about what they say on the outside.”
Thomas said the Browns will be able to game plan and correct the mistakes they made.
“We’re going to have the benefit of game-planning and custom-tailoring our offense to how we want to attack their defense,” Thomas said. “I expect a much better performance.”
Pinkston agreed.
“The things that were out there were more our fault than some of the things they did to us,” Pinkston said.
Pat Shurmur thinks the line will be ready when the season starts.
“I’m very confident our offensive line will be one of the strengths of our team,” Shurmur said. “(I’m) very confident.”
Thomas knows that as the offensive line goes, so goes the offense.
“Generally, speaking, as the offensive line goes, the offense goes,” Thomas said. “We’re kind of the tone setters. I think we have a really solid offensive line all across the group.”
The key for most lines is being cohesive and Pinkston feels the line is getting there.
“I have pretty good chemistry with Joe and Alex now,” he said. “Last year, I was just thrown in there. I was trying to learn how they block things and how they operate, and now I know and it feels good. Mitchell he jumped right in and now we’re all gelling together.”
Schwartz, who gave up a sack and has been learning on the job how to pass block, is slated to make his first NFL start against the Eagles. He says he’s not intimidated and feels he’ll be ready.
“Granted, they’re good players, but I think a lot of breakdown stuff was on our side of the ball,” Schwartz said. “Not using the right footwork, not taking the right set, not doing the right thing, but it is all stuff that’s correctable for us.
“Obviously, you never want to get the quarterback hit,” he said. “But when it’s something you can control, it’s something you can clean up and prevent in the future. I don’t think we were overmatched or anything like that.”
Pinkston said the line is looking forward to starting the regular season.
“We’re seeing them again here in two weeks,” Pinkston said. “That was probably one of the more basic game plans than we had and then they showed us a little different stuff. We learned a lot from it. We learned some stuff that we might see here in two weeks.”
Notebook
McCoy to Start: Shurmur said that QB [Brandon Weeden] will not play against the Bears in the final preseason game. He said QB [Colt McCoy] will start for Weeden.
“(Weeden’s) not going to play,” Shurmur said. “The other three (quarterbacks) will play. Colt will start.”
Shurmur said not too many starters will play.
“For the most part, guys who’ve been lining up with the ones will not play,” Shurmur said. “There are a lot of things that go into (the decision), injury and whether guys need to show more.”
McCoy, QB [Seneca Wallace] and QB [Thaddeus Lewis] took most of all the reps at practice Tuesday.
Shurmur said he feels Weeden is ready for the regular season.
“He’s very prepared,” Shurmur said. “He’s had an outstanding camp and has improved every day.”
Fujita Back: LB [Scott Fujita] was back at practice after missing time since the Lions game with a knee injury. Also DL [Brian Schaefering] and DB [David Sims] returned to practice. Schaefering had missed the past two practices, while Sims missed one day.
Cameron Out: TE [Jordan Cameron] was on the stationary bike not practicing Tuesday with an undisclosed injury. He missed time with a lower back injury suffered against the Lions. RB [Trent Richardson] (knee), OL [Oniel Cousins] (foot) and RB [Chris Ogbonnaya] (ankle) did not practice. Not practicing, but on the stationary bikes were DB [Dimitri Patterson] (ankle), DL [Phil Taylor] (pectoral), TE [Ben Watson] (undisclosed), DB [Ray Ventrone] (hamstring), Cameron (undisclosed) and DL [Scott Paxson] (knee).
Roster Decisions: Shurmur said there are roster decisions that will be made from the Bears game.
“There are a handful of decisions that we have to make,” he said. “Some of those will determine how guys play in the game.”
All NFL teams must be down to a 53 man roster by Friday night. Eight players can be added to the practice squad. Currently the Browns have 75 players on the roster.
New Guy: The Browns claimed DL Ernest Owusu on Monday and Shurmur said you can never have enough depth at defensive line.
“We brought in a guy that we felt good about,” he said. “He will help with depth.”
Owusu is wearing No. 42 and is expected to play against the Bears. He was an undrafted free agent from the Vikings.
The following quotes are from NFL scouts, coaches and front-office personnel, speaking on the condition of anonymity.
• “The biggest problem with Cleveland right now is that they burned high picks on two quarterbacks and still don’t have one. (Brandon) Weeden is 28. By the time he cuts his teeth, he will be 32, so you have to start looking at another guy in the next year or two. That means they are going to spend another (early) pick on a quarterback when they could have gotten another difference maker instead. Who are their receivers? They don’t have anyone that scares me. That doesn’t make the job any easier.”
