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5 Cleveland Browns preseason stars who had us all fooled

By Randy Gurzi

GREEN BAY, WI - OCTOBER 20: MarQueis Gray #47 of the Cleveland Browns stands on the sidelines during the fourth quarter against the Green Bay Packers at Lambeau Field on October 20, 2013 in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The Packers defeated the Browns 31-13. (Photo by Brian Kersey/Getty Images)
GREEN BAY, WI - OCTOBER 20: MarQueis Gray #47 of the Cleveland Browns stands on the sidelines during the fourth quarter against the Green Bay Packers at Lambeau Field on October 20, 2013 in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The Packers defeated the Browns 31-13. (Photo by Brian Kersey/Getty Images) /
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CHICAGO, IL – SEPTEMBER 03: Terrance Mitchell #20 of the Chicago Bears recovers a fumble next to Josh Lenz #17 of the Cleveland Browns during a preseason game at Soldier Field on September 3, 2015 in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images) /

3. Josh Lenz, WR

In the 2015 preseason, the Browns had themselves a real player on their hands — or so it seemed. Undrafted out of Iowa State in 2013, Josh Lenz spent time with the Chicago Bears, Seattle Seahawks, and Indianapolis Colts before joining Cleveland in the 2015 preseason.

The 6-foot-0, 194-pound possession receiver wasn’t gifted with great speed or athleticism but he was non-stop when it came to his motor. That led to him making several great catches in the preseason and he won fans over by leading the team in yardage during those exhibition games. He even took some reps at safety as well, just to make fans root for him even harder.

"“Lenz caught all four passes thrown his way, for 49 yards, including a long reception of 19 yards and two third-down conversions. The performance brings his preseason total to seven catches on seven targets for 108 yards, one catch of 20-plus yards and one of 40-plus. Also worth noting is that Lenz took a few reps in the Browns secondary on Thursday, as well.” — Andrea Hangst, Bleacher Report"

In the end, it wasn’t enough as he couldn’t crack the Browns roster. Fans who were upset about Lenz not making the team soon realized that he wasn’t more than just a preseason star as he tried one more season to make the pros but couldn’t crack the Houston Texans roster in 2016.

Lenz was on one 53-man roster in his career — which was with the Colts in 2014 — but never appeared in a regular-season game.

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