4 Cleveland Browns long shots who have never gotten a chance

1. Curtis Weaver, DE

Curtis Weaver had to sit behind the likes of Myles Garrett, Jadeveon Clowney, Takkarist McKinley, Joe Jackson, and Ifeadi Odenigbo in 2021. Accordingly, he had a grand total of six snaps in 2021.

Weaver played for the Boise State Broncos in college and while he was there, set the Mountain West Conference career record for sacks. Here again, scouts want to know how much faith to place in the Mountain West Conference.

It’s a Division I, FBS conference. Perhaps we could describe them as rowdy, capable of upsetting the big boys from the Power Five, but not necessarily a global superpower themselves.

Weaver was drafted by the Miami Dolphins in the fifth round, which was considered a super steal. How can the Mountain West career sack leader be a fifth-round draft pick? The answer might be that the scouts felt that he was not enough of a run-stopper at 6-foot-2 and 262 pounds. He also did not participate in the 40-yard dash, which might have also disappointed the scouts.

With Miami, he suffered a significant foot injury, involving the sesamoid bone in his big toe. This is just sportswriter speculation based on zero evidence, but perhaps there was a problem there, and that’s why he did not participate in the 40-yard dash, which is why he dropped in the draft.

The Dolphins elected to waive him rather than persevere through the injury, but the Browns were willing to hang in with him. The present author, who is not a medical authority by any means, tried to wade through the medical literature on sesamoid bone surgeries, and it seemed like there is a reasonable expectation for recovery and return to play.

It’s important, therefore, that Weaver did make it back to the practice squad and got in six NFL game snaps, and made a tackle in the NFL last year. He truly did make it all the way back. Now it’s a question of whether he’s got what it takes to play this game and get his career back on track.

In his way are the twin towers of Myles Garrett and Jadeveon Clowney, plus Chase Winowich, who in 2020 had 48 tackles and 5.5 sacks, but was injured for much of 2021 and had a bad year. The Browns also drafted Alex Wright in the third round, and they still have veteran Sheldon Day, who contributed 21 tackles and a sack last season as a backup.

They also signed Stephen Weatherly as a free agent and gave him $650,000 guaranteed money. It looks like they have six credible defensive ends ahead of Weaver at this point in time.

It will be tough, but not impossible, to displace the veterans.