Browns News and Notes for 8/25

Jun 4, 2013; Berea, OH, USA; Cleveland Browns wide receiver David Nelson (11) during minicamp at the Cleveland Browns Training Facility. Mandatory Credit: Ron Schwane-USA TODAY Sports

Between last night (Saturday) and today, the Browns got some pretty good news on the whole regarding injuries.  Last night, Jason Campbell had his foot trapped at one point but was regarded as ‘ok’ by Chud.  Jamoris Slaughter’s injury frustrations continue as he suffered as groin injury that took him out of the game after missing time from a pulled hamstring all after recovering from a torn Achilles tendon.  Beyond that, the only other injury suffered last night might have been a contusion to the team’s pride.

Today, Chud came out and said that Jabaal Sheard, Davone Bess, and Jordan Norwood would be back at practice tomorrow.  He also said that David Nelson would make his preseason debut on Friday.  Obviously, Nelson is going to survive the initial cut and maybe the Browns are more confident in him beyond that, but Nelson has barely been able to participate in training camp due to a bone bruise and a few other complications coming off of his ACL tear from last year.  It is unclear if Nelson is competing against Cordell Roberson or not, but Roberson has had some flashes in the preseason so far.

The update with Barkevious Mingo is there is no update with Mingo.  Nothing has changed.  The team is not giving up any details and trusts the doctors.

Chud indicated that Spencer Lanning and Shayne Graham are the leading contenders to win the punting and kicking jobs respectively.  While he would not suggest either has secured either job, that seems to be where he is leaning.  It is somewhat surprising that Graham is beating out Brendan Bogotay.  Graham is more consistent inside of 40 yards but Bogotay has a big leg, can drill kickoffs and is a rookie.  Hopefully, Bogotay can respond and answer the bell as he has the possibility of being a long term answer at that position while Graham does not.

The Browns are at 88 players and need to get down to 75 by Tuesday at 4pm, but they are likely to let most of them go before that deadline comes up if the rest of the league is any indication.  These cuts should not be too difficult this time around, but will get tricky when they go down to 53, especially with some of the injury concerns still lingering.

At the moment, Chud appears to be leaning towards playing the starters for part of the preseason finale against the Bears due to the amount of time some players have missed and probably in part because of the poor play against the Colts.  Perhaps this is just a way for Chud to get the team to come out and have a good practice so everyone in and around the Browns are not collectively holding their breath until the starters come out against the Bears.