Newly acquired safety Ronnie Harrison cleared protocols and had his first practice with the Browns on Sunday. (Cleveland Browns)
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Editor's note: Tony Grossi is a Cleveland Browns analyst for TheLandOnDemand.com and 850 ESPN Cleveland.
Could the Super Bowl winner this season be decided by the team with the best practice squad? It’s possible in this unprecedented year.
The practice squad is more important this year because it is the built-in feeder system to replace players on the regular roster who may test positive for Covid-19 and also for what is expected to be higher-than-normal injuries.
Basically, each team will have a roster of 69 players – 53 on the regular roster and 16 on the practice squad.
Practice squad rules were re-written in this pandemic season to allow for up to six veterans. Also, teams can more easily promote practice squad players to the regular roster.
The big difference in the two portions of the roster is the paycheck. Regular roster players receive 1/17 of their base salary each week -- the lowest minimum being about $36,000 per week – while practice squadders make $8,400 a week if they have two years or less NFL experience and $12,000 for veterans.
Browns continue building both their rosters
One result of the elimination of preseason games was that teams leaned heavily on their training camp roster to fill out their practice squad.
This is what the Browns did.
On Sunday, they signed 14 players to their practice squad (with two more to come). Thirteen of the 14 were previously waived on Saturday’s initial cutdown to 53.
The players brought back were:
Quarterback Garrett Gilbert, running back Dontrell Hilliard, running back Benny LeMay, fullback Johnny Stanton, wide receiver Ja’Marcus Bradley, wide receiver Taywan Taylor, offensive tackle Brady Aiello, guard Michael Dunn, linebacker Montrel Meander, cornerback A.J. Green, cornerback Robert Jackson, safety Elijah Benton and safety Jovante Moffatt.
The only newcomer added was also the only veteran – place-kicker Cody Parkey, who was the Browns regular kicker in the 1-15 season in 2016.
Parkey, of course, gained some infamy in the 2018 season by missing a potential game-winning field goal for the Chicago Bears in the playoffs with a “double doink.” The 43-yard kick caromed off the left upright and then the crossbar, leaving the Bears a 16-15 loser to the Eagles in the NFC wildcard game.
Parkey appeared in three games with the Titans in 2019, making all four of his kicks.
The Browns are one of six teams that added a kicker to its practice squad as insurance against something happening to Austin Seibert.
Another quirk of the pandemic season is that waiver claims were down after the initial roster cuts.
The Browns claimed two players and added them to their regular roster – second-year defensive end Joe Jackson (Cowboys) and fourth-year defensive tackle Vincent Taylor (Bills).
To make room on their 53, the Browns waived defensive tackle Eli Ankou and tight end Pharaoh Brown. If they pass through waivers, both players are expected to be added to the practice squad to bring it to the full 16.
53-Roster takeaways
1.Brown’s demotion left the Browns with four tight ends, including David Njoku, who was not traded. It remains to be seen whether Njoku opens the season as the No. 3 tight end behind Austin Hooper and rookie Harrison Bryant, which was the case the last two weeks of training camp. No. 4 is Ivy Leaguer Stephen Carlson, who made a couple of big catches in short playing time last year and had a good training camp.
2.The Browns kept nine offensive linemen on their 53 and added two to their practice squad. One shortage is at guard. The only true backup guard is practice squadder Michael Dunn, who has played in the Alliance of American Football and XFL but never saw action in an NFL game.
Originally, the Browns planned to train rookie center Nick Harris at guard in his first training camp, but that was scuttled when center JC Tretter had knee surgery. Harris most likely will start at center in Baltimore on Sept. 13 because Tretter is not ready. The tip-off to that was that the Browns kept backup center Evan Brown on the 53.
If something happened to Harris in the opener, it’s possible Chris Hubbard could be an emergency center.
Should this be a concern?
Remember the offensive line crisis that occurred in the 2019 opener? The Browns got caught short on tackles against the Titans when left tackle Greg Robinson was ejected and replacement Kendall Lamm suffered a knee injury. The Browns played most of the game with Hubbard shifted from right tackle to left tackle and backup guard Justin McCray rushed in as an emergency right tackle. It was a debacle.
3.Safety Ronnie Harrison, acquired Friday in a trade with the Jaguars, cleared protocols and was in uniform for a light practice on Sunday. Harrison has the rep of a smart player and expects to get up to speed to contribute in some capacity in the opener.
Coach Kevin Stefanski said, “I will tell you, over the course of the next few days, our defensive staff is going to spend a lot of time with Ronnie and see where he is and what he is comfortable with … he is a smart young man.”
4.It’s curious the Browns kept six wide receivers on the 53, counting return specialist JoJo Natson, and added two to the practice squad – Ja’Marcus Bradley and Taywan Taylor.
Considering Stefanski’s offense is so run-oriented and tight end-centric, and nobody is going to displace Jarvis Landry and Odell Beckham Jr. as the two mainstays, you wonder why so many receivers.
5.Starting cornerback Greedy Williams (shoulder), starting nickel back Kevin Johnson (liver) and No. 2 nickel back M.J. Stewart (hamstring) reportedly did not practice on Sunday. Stefanski declined to speculate on their availability for the Ravens game.
“It remains to be seen,” he said. “We will get an injury report on Wednesday, but until then, I think we are going to let these next few days and see how these guys respond to treatment.”