3 Browns wide receivers who will fight for final roster spots
By John Suchan
At the moment, the Cleveland Browns have 14 wide receivers on their roster. One of those is Michael Woods, who was drafted a year ago, but he suffered an Achilles injury and will not be part of the team this season. That still leaves a far too-crowded wide receiver room.
We know that Amari Cooper is a guarantee because he was Cleveland's biggest prize when they traded for him a year ago from the Dallas Cowboys.
Elijah Moore was just traded for and he's a lock as well. Donovan Peoples-Jones, now entering his third campaign with the Browns is another automatic bid, but he is going into his final season before seeking a second contract which would likely cost Cleveland or another team a lot more money.
The Browns just drafted Cedric Tillman out of Tennessee, a big wide receiver, standing at 6-foot-2 and weighing 220 pounds. He's the next lock in this group.
That leaves no more than two more spots to fill and that's going to be a tough battle. For the purposes of this piece, Jakeem Grant is considered a returner only, but he too can be a seventh option at wideout.
Let's look at the next three wide receivers that will likely be battling it out when we get to the final weeks of August.
Browns WR on the bubble No. 3: David Bell
I was really high on David Bell when the Browns drafted him a year ago. The former Big Ten Wide Receiver of the Year was a sure-handed wideout and was known for his ability to catch everything coming his way. He didn't get many opportunities last season and he had a mixed bag of results.
He's only entering year two and the Browns haven't generally cut players who have had such a short stint with the team. Bell will likely make the final 53-man roster, but he'll still need to do everything in his power in these training camps to impress those making the final decisions.
So that will likely mean there will be two players vying for that final slot. Those two players are both fast but one's a savvy veteran and the other a young player who hasn't materialized into what the team probably had envisioned initially.