Where have your favorite Cleveland Browns preseason stars ended up?
Summer camp is over, so where did everybody go? Here’s looing at where all your favorte Cleveland Browns from the preseason ended up.
If someone wore the uniform of the Cleveland Browns even for one day, they matter to us fans, to paraphrase former Browns coach Freddie Kitchens. We don’t stop taking an interest in them as people and as players. Most of us hope for the best for them, by and large, except when they play the Browns.
Roster cutdown day has come and gone and the earthquakes have subsided to minor tremors. The situation is still very fluid. NFL really does stand for Not For Long and there is no “final” roster, but here is what we know about the players we followed in summer camp this year as well as a few notes about players from past years.
Perhaps the star of the summer was Davion Davis, who managed to get himself suspended over a speeding violation from 2019. We have to wait two weeks to see if he will make the team or not. Three players were signed directly to active rosters of other NFL teams after cuts were made.
Players who made it directly to the NFL with other teams
Lineman Colby Gossett, 26, has been picked up by the Atlanta Falcons. Gossett has bounced around since being drafted by the Minnesota Vikings in the sixth round of the 2018 NFL Draft.
The Vikes waived him and signed him to their practice squad for a while, then picked off by the Arizona Cardinals off the Vikings practice squad roster (you can only hide a sixth-round pick on the practice squad for so long) and started four games for the Cardinals that year. However, the next year, he was released and signed for a look-see by the Patriots before moving on to Cleveland.
He opted out of 2020 due to Covid and was waived at the end of summer camp. Perhaps one reason the Falcons chose him was due to his heads-up fumble recovery in the last preseason game.
https://twitter.com/NFL/status/1432167553543987200?s=20
KhaDarel Hodge, 26, is a wide receiver and special teams ace now playing for the Detroit Lions. Hodge was probably waived due to his contract as much as anything, which was the $2.1 million dollar tender from Restricted Free Agency (RFA) earlier this spring that drew no offers. Because he had zero contract offers at that level, it means 32 teams including the Browns rejected him at that level.
Fortunately, the Detroit Lions stepped up for him at this point in time. They are getting a superior special teams player and a very dangerous receiver once he gets the ball in his hands. A converted quarterback from Prairie View A&M, the issue was whether his route running and receiving ability were up to NFL standards.
He definitely improved in two years with the Browns, although last year was a poor year due to injuries. The move to Detroit is a good career move for him. The Dawg Pound wishes him well.
Sheldrick Redwine, 24, will play safety for the New York Jets this season. He was a fourth-round pick in 2019 and did not quite live up to expectations. He is good enough to play in the NFL, but the Browns would have rather played Grant Delpit had he stayed healthy last season. Like the Browns, the Jets could use some additional depth in the defensive backfield.