Red Right 88

The Browns (mostly) final roster

The Browns made their final cuts on Saturday to get their roster down to 53 players with no major surprises.

The biggest name cut was Brandon McDonald; a minor surprise as that leaves the team with just three cornerbacks on the roster – for now. The consensus is the Browns will make some additional moves this week after they have a chance to see what players are available from other teams.

For now we know who is on the roster. Looking at this year’s roster vs. last year’s opening day roster, it’s pretty clear where the team has improved – primarily on offense – and where it still needs help:

Quarterback: Jake Delhomme, Seneca Wallace and Colt McCoy – even if he never plays a single down – are better than last year’s trio of Derek Anderson, Brady Quinn and Brett Ratliff. Clearly better than last year.

Running back: Essentially trading Peyton Hillis for an on-his-last legs Jamal Lewis makes this a better unit. Better than last year.

Offensive line: With Alex Mack entering his second year, Eric Steinbach and Joe Thomas anchoring the left side, and the quick growth of rookie Shawn Lauvao, plus no more Rex Hadnot, takes what was already a team strength and makes it that much better. Now if they could only do something about John St. Clair. Better than last year.

Wide receiver: Still a weak spot, but we’ll go along with Braylon Edwards no longer being around as addition by subtraction. The team is just relying too much on second-year players Mohamed Massaquoi and Brian Robiskie for this to be a strength. Not better than last year, but not worse.

Tight end: Ben Watson has to be an improvement over Martin Rucker, but the stone-handed Robert Royal is still on the team. Certainly not a glamor position on the squad. Not better than last year, but not worse.

Defensive line: Another unremarkable group, at least until we find out if Shaun Rogers is actually ready to play. Ahytba Rubin looked solid last year filling in for Rogers; let’s see how he does over a full season. Not better than last year, but not worse.

Linebackers: The team appears to be going for quantity over quality with 12 linebackers on the squad. Relatively young – only three of the group are over 30 – but lacking any legitimate playmakers, this looks to be a group project. But you have to love that the team kept Titus Brown, just for his name alone. Not better than last year, but not worse.

Defensive backs: After quarterback, the most improved group on the team, although very thin at cornerback. Sheldon Brown, T.J. Ward and Joe Haden are all huge upgrades over Brodney Pool, Hank Poteat and Coye Francies. Clearly better than last year.

Special teams: Reggie Hodges isn’t as good as Dave Zastudil, but he’s not bad. As long as the Browns have Josh Cribbs returning kicks, Phil Dawson and Ryan Pontbriand, they don’t have anything to worry about with this unit. Just as good as last year.

As for what the Browns will do this week, it seems likely they will make some additional rosters moves. It would make sense for them to talk with Justin Hartwig, who was cut by the Steelers, to see if they could add an experienced player to the offensive line.

Other than that, I don’t really see them going after any of the name players who were cut, for example T.J. Houshmandzadeh. For one, his production has gone down three years in a row (from 112 catches in 2007 to 79 last year) and I’m not sure adding a 32-year-old receiver is really going to make a difference in the won-loss record this year. Plus, if having him around takes time away from one of the younger receivers, is that helpful?

And whatever the Browns do, I truly believe they are smart enough to stay far, far away from Troy Smith.

So the offense improved in one vital area, while not getting weaker anywhere else. The defensive secondary should be better; hopefully that will make the linebackers and defensive line at least somewhat better.

We’ll know for sure in less than a week when the team takes the field against Tampa Bay.