Cleveland Browns must select 4 flex positions on offense

Browns offensive roster-ology worksheet

Here’s one fan’s view of what the offensive roster looks like.  There will be 25 roster spots on offense, plus three on special teams (punter, placekicker, and long snapper) and 25 positions on defense.

That gets us to 53 players in all. But this week we will just look at the offense. 25 roster spots is enough to keep track of for one week.

Listed below are reasonable guesses for who might fill the 21 core roster spots. This isn’t to say that there will not be any surprises there. On the contrary, there could very well be names that vanish altogether.

Some kid might show up tomorrow and claim a roster spot and make the 53 player roster. Also listed are the six flex positions that may or may not be part of the team depending on the choices made by the general manager.

That would be Andrew Berry in real life, for the purposes of this article, it’s you and me. You get to fill only four of these flex positions and two of them have to be unfilled. You cannot fill all six.

Which will they be?

Your four might be different from my four. I would be inclined to go with the first-string fullback; third-string quarterback; extra offensive lineman, and fourth running back.

I would try to deal David Njoku in order to promote Stephen Carlson or perhaps a surprise candidate from the bottom of the roster; not because I don’t like Njoku, but because I think the Browns reduce the number of play calls from the two-tight-end base formation and use more three wide receiver sets or use the fullback in place of the second tight end.

With Felton on the team, he can take some reps at wide receiver, so he sort of fills two roles at the same time.

In a similar vein, the role of the fullback is not that far removed from the role of the blocking tight end in today’s NFL. Hence with Felton and Janovich on the squad, the team may not desperately need a true WR6 or TE4.

Similarly, Chris Hubbard gives options on the offensive line that might make you feel courageous enough to enter the regular season with only eight offensive linemen, although there are probably nine that deserve to make the final 53 on the basis of talent.