Cleveland Browns: Three players that can ‘earn their stripe’ Thursday night

Offensive Lineman Greg Robinson

At the beginning of training camp, Greg Robinson was pushing to become the team’s starting left tackle. But after a concussion slowed down Robinson’s progress, his play has been on and off since recovering from the injury. He was very good in the team’s first preseason game, but has not reached that same level of play since.

It seemed that Robinson had a good chance at making the roster in the first few weeks of training camp. But after the team moved Joel Bitonio to left tackle and activated Desmond Harrison, Robinson is likely battling Shon Coleman to be the backup tackle.

Although he was an undrafted free agent and not played much with the Browns, Harrison brings a lot of potential. So much so that if the Browns tried to put him on waivers to get him on the practice squad, another team would likely pick him up. So if the Browns want to keep a potential future starting tackle, they would have to keep Harrison on the 53-man roster.

That creates a predicament between Robinson and Coleman. It would be extremely unlikely that the Browns would decide to keep five offensive tackles. So if Harrison makes the team, the Browns would have to decide between Robinson or Coleman.

Robinson will get extended playing time on Thursday night, and will likely move from left tackle to right tackle. If he manages to keep the quarterback clean and use his power to create running lanes, he could have the edge over Coleman.

Not only has Coleman struggled this preseason, but he also does not have the versatility that Robinson does. If the Browns needed an emergency replacement at guard, Robinson has experience playing the position to be a stopgap. He just needs a solid performance against the Lions to solidify his spot on the roster.