The Cleveland Browns didn’t give away any secrets with their starters on Sunday, but these three young players will struggle to make the roster.
We are now two preseason games in, and there are still a lot of questions to be answered for the Cleveland Browns. While most teams have at least played their starting quarterback a few series by now, Jacoby Brissett has yet to take a live snap.
Remember, after the recent settlement between the NFL, NFLPA, and Deshaun Watson, Brissett will likely be the starting quarterback for the first 11 games of the season. There’s some speculation that the Browns may have some interest in Jimmy Garopollo, but the organization has clarified that they are set with Brissett.
It will be interesting to see if that tone changes if the 49ers do end up releasing Garopollo. As is, his contract is a lot to take on if it would also take a draft pick, but the Browns could get a deal with a ready roster and his release.
We didn’t see a lot of starters Sunday which was a bit surprising, but there were a lot of good snaps for young guys trying to earn their spot. Here are three young guys who may struggle to make this roster.
3 young Browns likely to be cut before the 2022 season
No. 3 – David Moore
One guy who has done a few good things this preseason is a rookie undrafted guard from Grambling, David Moore. He saw a decent number of snaps on Sunday, and while he does lack some strength in the trenches, his athleticism is a good fit for the Browns zone run scheme.
The biggest issue for Moore, the uphill battle with so much depth at the position. Joel Bitonio and Wyatt Teller may be the best starting duo in the NFL, with good depth in Michael Dunn, Blake Hance, and even Chris Hubbard — and all of them play multiple positions.
A season-ending injury to Nick Harris may give Moore a shot, but at this point, it appears he is auditioning to make another roster.
No. 2 – Mike Harley
One position that Cleveland must improve at is wide receiver. If Amari Cooper would have to miss even a snap in a game, they go from slightly below average to bad extremely quickly. While we haven’t seen anything in the preseason from Cooper and not much from Donovan Peoples-Jones, David Bell did have a nice day on Sunday with three catches.
Mike Harley, an undrafted free agent from Miami, had three catches against the Eagles but also had a few drops that were noticeable. At 5-foot-10 and180 pounds, Harley had the potential to replace Jakeem Grant as a return specialist, but I don’t think he has the talent to make the roster on that alone.
On top of that, I don’t see Andrew Berry ready to give up on Anthony Schwartz just yet. The 2021 third-round pick has been extremely disappointing, but he has too much upside to move on from. Plus, Berry is all but admitting defeat on an early pick which takes a lot of pride.
I’ve said for a few weeks that the Browns weren’t done at receiver yet. Now that the dust has settled on the Watson suspension, I would expect Berry to get busy adding an additional wide receiver. The previous thought was that Will Fuller may be in play, but with Watson out the first 11 games, they may look to go another route.
No. 1 – Josh Rosen
In his fifth full season, Josh Rosen is no longer a young gun, but he is a former No. 10 pick that can’t find a home in the NFL. After a disappointing rookie campaign in Arizona with a 3-10 record, Rosen has found himself on his fourth team in five seasons and likely without a home to start the 2022 season.
I’m not sure exactly what his issue is, but a 7-for-20 performance with 88 yards on Sunday vs. third stringers, is not going to get it done. It’s to the point where I wouldn’t be surprised to see them move on before the final preseason game so that they can get a look at someone else.
Rosen has been so bad, that I’m not sure he would even be active on Sunday. We haven’t seen anything of Brissett yet, but Joshua Dobbs has been fantastic. I know it’s just the preseason and we thought DeShone Kizer was going to be an All-Pro after a few games vs. vanilla defense, but he has really looked the part.
Rosen was a guy who had some success in college but has yet to show he will ever be able to make the transition to the NFL. It appears the Browns are happy with their current quarterback room. They have three guys who are all mobile and can make plays outside of the pocket, especially on play-action.