Cleveland Browns get two extra weeks to find Davion Davis roster spot

It’s a bit tacky, but the Cleveland Browns landed a 54th roster spot, in effect, as Davion Davis will move to the suspended list for the first two games this season.

The Cleveland Browns human highlight reel, Davion Davis will be suspended for the first two games of the 2021 season. He will be kept on the team, and does not occupy a spot on the 53-player active roster.

This is a result of a 2019 careless driving charge which led to a two-game suspension which was never enforced since he was out of a job at the time the guilty plea was registered in the State of Minnesota. Nick Ferraro’s account for the St. Paul Pioneer Press indicates that Davis pled guilty on December 10, 2020 of misdemeanor careless driving in connection with an arrest in 2019 along Interstate 94 in St. Paul, Minnesota.

Camryn Justice ran the story for News 5 Cleveland, indicating that his case was delayed due to Covid as well as the relatively low priority assigned to the case by the court.  Hence the announcement was delayed until Tuesday August 24. It was not part of a brilliant Andrew Berry conspiracy, though it sounds like it.

Whenever a human being gets behind the wheel of an automobile after having had too much to drink, this is a very serious matter. This author does not wish to make light of it. Nevertheless, looking at the situation pragmatically from a purely football point of view, the NFL substance abuse policy strongly favors the teams. When players are suspended they do not occupy roster spots, it’s as simple as that. There’s no longer a need to cut Davis at the end of training camp.

Thus the irony of the situation is that when a player gets in trouble of this sort, it actually benefits the team because the Browns have several wide receivers who are worth keeping. Let’s get real here, Browns fans. If the team is going to have a fullback on the roster, and if the two-tight-end formation still figures prominently in their plans, and if they want Demetric Felton and D’Ernest Johnson both to play running back, the right answer is probably five wide receivers and MAYBE six, but certainly not seven or eight.

So if you want to keep Davis, who are the other five that you would keep among (1) Odell Beckham, Jr., (2) Jarvis Landry, (3) Donovan Peoples-Jones, (4) Anthony Schwartz, (5) Rashard Higgins, (6) KhaDarel Hodge, (7) Ja’Marcus Bradley and (8) JoJo Natson?

The Browns are also going to have to think very seriously about Johnny Stanton as the fullback and fourth-string tight end, and maybe rookie Demetric Felton will be spending time in both the running back (RB3) and WR room. And D’Ernest Johnson has done everything the Browns have asked from him for the past two years, so what about him?

And if you watched the exhibition games, you — and the rest of the NFL by now — realize that Davion Davis may be an emerging talent. This is not Kasen Williams or Jordan Leslie or some other orange and brown hallucinogenic fog. Don’t even think about having Davis clear waivers so that he can be stashed away on the practice squad. That is so not going to happen.

The Browns will have two weeks to figure out how to squeeze Davis onto the roster. By then, someone is probably going to be on the Covid-19 list, or a trade will be worked out somewhere or something else will happen and the Browns can figure out a way to make this work one way or the other.

In the past, the Browns have tended to go into conniptions when one of their players has had a substance abuse issue. This is not necessary.

A violation for careless driving in 2019 is a serious matter, and remedial training and counseling on alcohol abuse can only be good for him. If the kid was a good teammate so far, this can only help him get better, and get his life on a better foundation.

So do not go crazy and complain that life is not fair and that the NFL’s substance abuse policy is nuts (even though life in fact is not fair, the policy is in fact nuts). In this instance, it benefits the Browns. It is a blessing in disguise.

The prediction here is that Davion Davis will make the Browns 53-player roster for game three against Da Bears.