NFL News: Browns acquire WR Sammie Coates from Steelers
September 2, 2017Browns claim five players off waivers, release Nacua and Holmes
September 3, 2017The Cleveland Browns announced their 53-man roster on Saturday, trimming the large preseason roster down to the regular season limit. The Browns made a lot of their decisions before the deadline with some surprises. On Friday, the team cut quarterback Brock Osweiler and offensive lineman John Greco. Both were a bit of a surprise. The team also added Sammie Coates in a trade on Saturday, giving them a new receiver on the roster. But, Saturday’s final cut did not have a huge amount of surprises.
Let’s start with the offense. At quarterback, the Browns have DeShone Kizer, Cody Kessler and Kevin Hogan. Isaiah Crowell, Duke Johnson Jr. and Matthew Dayes make up the running back unit, while Danny Vitale is the lone fullback on the 53-man roster. The Browns kept five receivers with Kenny Britt, Corey Coleman, Sammie Coates, Ricardo Louis and Rashard Higgins making the squad. The team has a young tight end unit with Randall Telfer, Seth DeValve and David Njoku making up the unit. Cleveland decided to keep 10 offensive linemen with Joe Thomas, Joel Bitonio, JC Tretter, Kevin Zeitler, Shon Coleman, Rod Johnson, Marcus Martin, Spencer Drango, Austin Reiter and Zach Sterup on the roster.
Now, let’s head to the defensive side of the ball. On the defensive line, Myles Garrett, Danny Shelton, Trevon Coley, Emmanuel Ogbah, Caleb Brantley, Tyrone Holmes, Jamie Meder, Carl Nassib, Larry Ogunjobi and Nate Orchard make up the large position group. Jamie Collins Sr., Christian Kirksey, Joe Schobert, Dominique Alexander and James Burgess are the linebackers who have made the 53-man roster. At cornerback, Jamar Taylor, Briean Boddy-Calhoun, Jason McCourty, Marcus Burley and Darius Hillary won jobs in the unit. And at safety, Jabrill Peppers, Derrick Kindred, Ibraheim Campbell, Calvin Pryor III and Kai Nacua form the unit.
The special teams were less eventful than the rest of the roster. Zane Gonzalez won the kicking competition to be the team’s place kicker. Britton Colquitt will be the starting punter for the Browns and the team’s long snapper is Charley Hughlett.
Saturday was the cut down day all across the NFL, making it one of the busiest news-making days on the NFL calendar. This year’s final cut day was especially busy because it marked the first year where there was only one cut in the preseason. In years past, there would be multiple cut deadlines, so the trimming would not be as dramatic. But, this season the league had just one cut date where teams released around 30-40 players.
But, don’t get too comfortable with the current roster. With the one massive cut on Saturday, the waiver wire over the next couple days will be very busy. Look for the Browns to scour through trade possibilities and the waiver wire to keep addressing the roster. Wide receiver and cornerback may be the positions the team looks at to upgrade further. So, this is just the start of a crazy NFL weekend.
4 Comments
I’m glad they recognized Kai Nacua and kept the best players in the secondary. All can hit, tackle, and cover.
Glad Nicua made it. The kid is a baller!
They cut him today to make room for a waiver signee.
Signed to practice squad. This was my 2017 “I have no idea who this guy is, but I’m going to root for him to make the team just because” sleeper pick.