Cleveland Browns roster will be tough, but not impossible to make

The Cleveland Browns and general manager John Dorsey have built a roster that will be much harder to make the final 53-man.

This year’s Cleveland Browns team has a talented and deep roster that will be more competitive by far than any team the Dawg Pound has seen since 1999.

This is a stark contrast to the past few years, when the Browns were so lacking in talent that very marginal players were able to make the team.

The table below summarizes the roster situation as of May 1. However, the way John Dorsey has been making moves, it will be out of date in about fifteen minutes.

More from Dawg Pound Daily

• Cleveland Browns critics continue to misplace their judgement
• 3 Cleveland Browns players who don’t deserve another season in 2023
• How the Browns could maximize Nick Chubb in 2023
• Can Deshaun Watson get to Patrick Mahomes level for Cleveland Browns?
• 3 Cleveland Browns who should see an expanded role in 2023 and 1 who should not

It’s a cliché, but any man with a number on his back is a threat to make the team. The point of this chart is not to dismiss the chances of the players gunning for a position with the team, but to give some idea of how the roster is shaping up and where the team is deepest and where it is not so deep.

The colored names are a preliminary guess at players who are the strongest candidates to actually make the 53-man roster based on zero summer camp. Veterans who are likely to be difficult to dislodge for their roster spot are shown in the brown boxes with white letters. 2019 draft picks are in the bright orange/red boxes with white letters. They probably get roster spots more or less automatically. Players who are judged to be in the top 53 but who are facing stiff competition are shown in the orange boxes with brown letters. Finally the players who need to move up in order to make the team are shown in the white boxes with brown letters. They will have to take someone else’s job away.

In football, it really matters how good your 11th best player of the field is. You can try to hide him, but the other team is going to come right after him. Not every player is a superstar, but where bad teams go really bad is when they have to put an incompetent player on the field, because he will always be exposed by a good team.

Surprisingly, one of the toughest spots to make the Browns is probably offensive line. Despite the perception that the Browns are thin after trading Kevin Zeitler to New York, they have managed to sign three players who started at least half the season last year: Kendall Lamm (13), Eric Kush (seven), Brian Witzmann (seven). They also have Desmond Harrison as a potential backup, who started eight games for the Browns last year.

Since there are 32 teams in the NFL, there are 64 first-string positions for both tackles and guards. The four second-string Browns players were rated between 52nd to 67th best at their position according to Pro Football Focus. Harrison, the kid identified by Hue Jackson as an offensive line prospect, actually was rated the lowest of the four.  Still, Harrison is listed as among the top-53 on the grounds he started the first half of the season last year and had a few good games. But it would not be surprising if the other guys move ahead of him in summer camp.

The Browns might be able to keep four quarterbacks if they can sneak rookie David Blough onto the practice squad. Drew Stanton is the only established backup. Garrett Gilbert could be the third-string quarterback, or he might even supplant Stanton for the backup job if he can convince the coaches that his performance for the Orlando Apollos was not a fluke. Gilbert was the leading passer in the ill-fated Alliance of American Football. As for Blough, once you wrap your brain around the fact that Purdue did not have monster talent on the team, he put up very good numbers and is thought to be both extremely smart and extremely tough. He might well grow up to be another Stanton or even better.

Trayone Gray might have a shot at dislodging veteran Orson Charles for the starting fullback position. Gray was a pure blocking back in college, whereas Charles can also play tight end and is a major special teams contributor. Charles is a tough customer, but not a superstar and it would be possible for the right player to take his job. We’ll find out if Gray is going to be that guy.

At wide receiver, both Derrick Willies and Damion Ratley looked like potential NFL starters. It will be tough to convince the Browns to pull the plug in Year 2 of their young careers.

At running back, there are three positions spoken for, with Nick Chubb as a solid number one and Duke Johnson still a very good football player if he’s not pouting about his diminished role.  Dontrell Hilliard is the first-string kickoff returner and also catches passes well out of the backfield. Coach Kitchens sometimes used the small backs (Hilliard and Johnson) as fullbacks last year.  They may not be bone crushing blockers, but on the other hand, Baker Mayfield doesn’t need that much time, either. If they can block well enough to just slow down a pass rusher, they are doubly dangerous as receivers out of the backfield. With Kareem Hunt on enforced vacation, he does not occupy a roster position. Thus, it might be possible for a fourth running back to sneak onto the roster for at least the first half of the season.

Defensive end is a position much like offensive line, where there is a lot of veteran backup.  Currently, Anthony Zettel and Brian Price are shown on the outside looking in despite having been valued members of the defensive rotation last year. PFF rated both of them as borderline NFL starters. They have an excellent chance to overtake second-year man Chad Thomas, whose commitment to football has been questioned because he is a very good recording artist and producer.

Linebacker might be much more open, because only Joe Schobert played at a high level last year.  Still, they signed Adarius Taylor as a free agent and then drafted Sione Takitaki and Mack Wilson, while losing Jamie Collins as a salary cap casualty.

The Browns added three defensive backs through the draft plus Morgan Burnett from the Steelers and Eric Murray from the Kansas City Chiefs. They will have to replace starter Jabrill Peppers and slot corner Briean Boddy-Calhoun. It’s going to be crowded in the defensive backfield as well.