Cleveland Browns sign Anthony Fabiano to active roster
By Thomas Moore
The Cleveland Browns made a pair of roster moves on Monday, signing Anthony Fabiano to the active roster and Zach Sterup to the practice squad.
The Cleveland Browns continued the offensive line churn on Monday, signing offensive lineman Anthony Fabiano to the active roster from the team’s practice squad.
In a related move, the Browns signed offensive lineman Zach Sterup to the practice squad after seeing the Carolina Panthers sign offensive lineman Dan France off of Cleveland’s practice squad.
The moves were announced on the team’s website.
The 6-foot-3 and 303-pound Fabiano originally signed with the Baltimore Ravens as a free agent out of Harvard. (So no surprise how the Browns heard about him.) A versatile player, he made 29 starts for the Crimson along the offensive line, with 11 starts at left tackle, 10 at right guard, seven at left guard and one at right tackle.
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According to his draft profile at NFL.com, Fabiano is an “athletic player who opened some eyes at his pro day with his speed and quickness. Quick lateral movement off the snap and can gain ground quickly to challenge on cross-face blocks. Plays with desired bend and decent hand work. Draft stock could benefit from experience playing at multiple spots along the offensive line.”
Normally the promotion of a player from the practice squad to the active roster would cause a very minor ripple. But with the attrition rate along the offensive line this season – the Browns have already lost starting guards Joel Bitonio and John Greco, along with center Austin Reiter, to season-ending injuries; and had Cameron Erving miss games with an injury – it would not be a complete surprise to see Fabiano on the field as early as Sunday’s game against the Cincinnati Bengals.
And it was not that long ago that safety Ed Reynolds was biding his time on the practice squad and now he is a stabilizing presence in the secondary.
As for Sterup, the 6-foot-9 and 318-pound lineman was originally signed by the Kansas City Chiefs as an undrafted free agent out of Nebraska, where he started 17 games. He worked in training camp at both left and right tackle with the Chiefs and spent time this season on the practice squads of both the Chiefs and New York Jets.
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He also received a four-game suspension to open the season for violating the NFL’s policy on performance enhancing drugs.