Cleveland Browns have a busy, but puzzling, waiver wire day

The Cleveland Browns stayed busy on Sunday as the team claimed five players off waivers. But not all of the transactions made sense.

The Cleveland Browns continued the process of reshaping their roster on Sunday as the club claimed five players off of waiver.

The team also released five additional players to make room, and added four players to the practice squad.

Not all of the moves make sense at the moment, however.

Starting with the practice squad, the Browns, according to the team website, signed:

"Tight end J.P. Holtz, linebacker Deon King, running back Terrence Magee and defensive back Najee Murray"

Nothing objectionable there, really, and it is always nice to see a Kent State man (Murray) have a shot.

Things get a bit dicier, however, when it comes to the players the Browns released on Sunday. According to the team’s website, the Browns parted ways with:

"Wide receiver Rashard Higgins, defensive back Darius Hillary, defensive end Tyrone Holmes, safety Kai Nacua and defensive back Marcus Burley"

The team won’t miss Hillary and Burley, and the release of Higgins, just a day after the Browns released fellow 2016 draft pick Jordan Payton, should help slow down talk that the current regime is only interested in keeping the players that they drafted.

Holmes and Nacua are a different story, however, as both were last seen making plays in the preseason.

Nacua always seemed to be in the middle of the action whenever he was in the game, and it comes off as odd that the Browns chose to keep safeties Ibraheim Campbell, who has done nothing in his two years with the team, and Calvin Pryor, who has done nothing since being acquired in a trade with the New York Jets.

Holmes is even more difficult to understand as the Browns chose to let him go in favor of keeping Nate Orchard, who has spent the majority of his time in Cleveland sidelined by injuries. Holmes continued to make a name for himself throughout training camp, and left what appeared to be a great lasting impression on Thursday night against the Chicago Bears, as Pro Football Focus highlighted:

"On the edge, Holmes continued his fantastic preseason with another solid effort in both run defense and as a rusher. The second-year rusher racked up a team-high six pressures in 31 rushes (two of those plays were nullified by penalty), while tying for the team-high with three defensive stops against the run."

As for the new guys, according to the team’s website the Browns have added:

"Wide receiver Reggie Davis from the Atlanta Falcons, defensive back Michael Jordan from the Los Angeles Rams, defensive lineman T.Y. McGill from the Indianapolis Colts, wide receiver Kasen Williams from the Seattle Seahawks, and quarterback Josh Woodrum from the Baltimore Ravens"

The addition of Woodrum, who is well traveled after spending time with the Ravens, Buffalo Bills, New York Giants, Indianapolis Colts and Chicago Bears since entering the league as an undrafted free agent in 2016, gives the Browns four quarterbacks on the roster. It seems highly unlikely that will remain the case when the Browns open the season next Sunday, so a move at the position should be forthcoming.

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Davis is small, just 5-foot-11 and 170 pounds, and was an undrafted free agent out of Georgia. Jordan, an undrafted free agent out of Missouri Western State, spent most of the 2016 season on the practice squad with the Rams, but made it onto the active roster the final five weeks of the season. He is obviously familiar to defensive coordinator Gregg Williams

McGill was originally an undrafted free agent by the Seattle Seahawks and spent the past two seasons with the Colts. He has played in 25 career games, but with the defensive tackle position already filled, it is hard to see how McGill will receive much playing time.

The one player that has Browns Twitter all fired up is Williams, who spent the past two seasons with the Seattle Seahawks. He appeared in three games with the Seahawks, catching one pass for eight yards. (Yes, you read that last part correctly.)

Williams did, however, lead the Seahawks in receiving during the preseason, catching nine passes for 208 yards. He was also one of three former Washington Huskies that the Seahawks have moved on from in recent days, joining wide receiver Jermaine Kearse and fullback Marcel Reece. Turns out that the Browns are not the only NFL team that “hates” players from the local college.

With all the hullabaloo over Williams, we reached out to Lee Vowell at 12th Man Rising to see what he could tell us about Williams:

"“Williams was injured in college, suffering a broken fibula and Lisfranc injury, and he has not seemed to really recover. He was on the practice squad last year, and this preseason he played big and caught some passes in tight coverage. He was better in the first two preseason games than the last two. He’s not fast but plays big, although his potential is limited due to speed. I think he might be OK, but he’ll never be a No. 1 receiver.”"

Luckily the Browns will not need Williams to be a No. 1 wide receiver, and it can take more than a year for a player to recover from a serious injury. It is possible that Williams is finally finding his game and the Browns are on to something. There will certainly be opportunities for him to grab the fourth wide receiver position behind Corey Coleman, Kenny Britt and Sammie Coates.

Next: Offensive line cuts a bit perplexing

Sunday’s moves may not have all made sense, but the Browns are also not done tweaking the roster. They still have to do something with one of their extra quarterbacks, and the defensive line is a bit busy. So expect more moves in the days and weeks to come.

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