Tag: Cleveland Browns practice squad

Browns elevate LB Montrel Meander from practice squad for Week 2

Meander is listed at LB but has also played safety on the Browns’ practice squad

Faced with several injuries across the defense, the Cleveland Browns bolstered the active roster on Wednesday. The team elevated linebacker Montrel Meander up from the practice squad to the active 53-man roster.

Meander is one of the two practice squad players who are allowed to be part of the active roster for a game day. If the Browns choose to elevate another, it must be an offensive lineman per NFL rules.

Meander has been with the Browns’ practice squad off and on since being claimed off waivers from the New York Jets in August of 2019. He was also with Cleveland in 2018 as an undrafted rookie free agent from Grambling. Meander, who will wear No. 41, has worked at both linebacker and safety during his time with the team.

He will be eligible to revert back to the practice squad following the game without being subject to waivers.

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Browns elevate CB Robert Jackson to the active roster

Jackson is the first player around the NFL to get the practice squad elevation

Robert Jackson is the answer to what might someday be an NFL trivia question. Jackson is the first-ever practice squad player promoted to the active roster under the new CBA rules.

Jackson, a third-year cornerback, is on the Browns practice squad. But due to injuries at the position, the Browns have taken advantage of the new rule wrinkle to promote Jackson to the active roster for a game weekend. It’s part of the change allowing 55 active players for each game day, up from 53. The teams can elevate one or two players from its practice squad before 4 p.m. ET the day before a game.

Jackson will revert back to the practice squad following the game. The Browns need him to help fill in for inured Greedy Williams, Kevin Johnson and M.J. Stewart at cornerback. Williams and Johnson have been ruled out for the Week 1 trip to Baltimore, while Stewart is questionable.

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Jackson was the first player officially designated with the new practice squad elevation around the league. He played in six games for the Browns a year ago, almost exclusively on special teams.

Browns sign a pair of DTs to the practice squad

The Browns released OT Brad Aiello and RB Bennie LeMay to make room

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The Browns restocked the defensive tackle depth on the team heading into the Week 1 weekend. Cleveland added two new DTs to the practice squad on Friday.

Joey Ivie and Tanzel Smart signed with the Browns on the practice squad. Both have some NFL regular-season experience. Ivie was a seventh-round pick by the Cowboys out of Florida in the 2017 NFL Draft. He’s spent time with the Falcons, Seahawks, Chiefs and Titans too. He played five games for Kansas City and three for Tennessee in 2019.

Smart was also a 2017 draft selection, a sixth-rounder by the Rams. He started four games as a rookie and played in 13 games a year ago for Los Angeles. He spent training camp with the Buffalo Bills this summer. Smart was a teammate of Browns RB Dontrell Hilliard, also on the practice squad, at Tulane.

To make room for the newcomers, the Browns cut RB Bennie LeMay and offensive tackle Brady Aiello from the practice squad. Both are undrafted rookies.

Browns reveal their protected practice squad players for Week 1

Garrett Gilbert and newcomer Greg Senat are among the first Browns on the protected practice squad

A new rule change for 2020 allows NFL teams to protect up to four players on the practice squad each week. While players are exposed during the aftermath of a game week, once they get back to the practice squad the next week the players can be locked in. No team can sign the protected players until after that week’s game.

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The Cleveland Browns used the protected designation for Week 1 on four players:

  • QB Garrett Gilbert
  • S Jovante Moffatt
  • PK Cody Parkey
  • OT Greg Senat

Senat was signed just before the Browns had to determine the protected members of the practice squad, an indication they value his addition more than fans might expect.

The Browns will also be able to make two practice squad players active on Sunday in Baltimore as a result of another rule change. One of those extra two actives must be an offensive lineman. Based on protecting him, that could very well be Senat.

Browns sign RB John Kelly to practice squad

Kelly was cut by the Los Angeles Rams over the weekend

The Cleveland Browns filled out the initial 16-man practice squad on Wednesday. Cleveland added free agent RB John Kelly to the practice squad.

Kelly worked out for the team on Tuesday. He was originally a sixth-round pick by the Los Angeles Rams in the 2018 NFL Draft after an impressive career at Tennessee. Kelly did get some NFL experience (30 carries) with the Rams but has primarily been on their practice squad. He was let go in the roster cutdowns over the weekend.

With offensive tackle Greg Senat also signing on Tuesday, the Browns now are at the 16-man limit for the practice squad.

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Browns add OT Greg Senat to the practice squad

Senat was a 2018 6th-round pick by the Baltimore Ravens

After carrying two open spots on the 16-member practice squad for over a day, the Cleveland Browns filled one of the holes with a big new offensive tackle. The team signed Greg Senat to the practice squad on Tuesday.

Senat was originally a sixth-round pick in the 2018 NFL Draft by the Baltimore Ravens. The Browns face the Ravens in Week 1, but they won’t get much info from Senat. He spent his entire rookie year on injured reserve with a broken foot and was waived during the roster cutdowns before his second year. Senat was claimed by the Kansas City Chiefs but quickly went on their injured reserve as well.

I watched Senat, from small-school Wagner, in person in the 2018 Shrine Game week and liked what I saw enough that I profiled him for Texans Wire. His basketball background shows in his movement skills, and that likely appealed him to Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski.

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Chad Thomas, Donovan Olumba among cuts not returning to the Browns practice squad

There were a few surprise omissions from the Browns practice squad list

There are only 16 spots on the practice squad for the Cleveland Browns. As of Monday morning, 14 of those are filled. And the two open spots appear destined for DT Eli Ankou and TE Pharaoh Brown, who were waived on Sunday when the Browns signed Joe Jackson and Vincent Taylor.

The Browns stuck close to home in filling out the practice squad. All but one of the 14 members of the initial practice squad spent training camp in Cleveland. The other, PK Cody Parkey, was the team’s kicker in 2016.

But there are some notable omissions from the practice squad list. Defensive end Chad Thomas is the biggest.

Thomas entered training camp as the No. 3 DE, or at least competing for that role with newcomer Adrian Clayborn. After a promising second season where he bagged four sacks and played well in Myles Garrett’s absence down the stretch, the arrow was pointing up for Thomas. He didn’t fare badly, not by any account from Berea. But he did fall behind Porter Gustin, one of the surprise standouts of training camp.

There didn’t appear to be interest on either side for the relationship to continue,

The same is true for CB Donovan Olumba, another training camp standout. He was cut earlier in the week and still has yet to latch onto another team. Olumba was the most surprising cut from the 53-man roster in my eyes, and it sure seemed a given he would return to the practice squad given the myriad injuries in the Browns secondary. He too remains a street free agent, unsigned as of yet.

It seems the Willie Harvey experience is also done in Cleveland. Harvey made the 53-man roster in 2019 as an undrafted rookie, but he failed to recapture the magic in 2020. He’s another unexpected omission from the list. Safety J.T. Hassell, who played capably as an undrafted rookie late last year, is another.

Maybe the team was looking for something different with these players or those positions. That certainly seems the case with Thomas, a John Dorsey pet pick that doesn’t fit the new Andrew Berry/Kevin Stefanski scheme or structure all that well. Or maybe the player(s) decided to seek out greener pastures elsewhere.

Browns sign DE Robert McCray to the practice squad

McCray spent 2018 on the Chiefs practice squad as a UDFA from Indiana

The Cleveland Browns filled out the last remaining spot on the practice squad by signing free agent defensive end Robert McCray.

McCray joins the Browns after spending his previous NFL career with the Kansas City Chiefs. He was on the Chiefs’ practice squad during the 2018 season, his rookie campaign after being an undrafted free agent from Indiana.

He’s more of a run-oriented DE than the Browns have typically favored. McCray, listed at 6-1 and 275 pounds by the Chiefs this summer, had seven sacks and 9.5 TFLs in his final two seasons for the Hoosiers. He fills the practice squad vacancy created when Porter Gustin was promoted to the active 53-man roster.

Browns sign WR J’Mon Moore to the practice squad

Moore was a 4th round pick by the Packers in 2018 out of Missouri

Welcome to Cleveland, J’Mon Moore! The second-year wide receiver is the newest member of the Cleveland Browns practice squad.

Cleveland signed Moore on Monday, a day after the team blistered the Miami Dolphins. Moore fills one of the vacant spots on the practice squad created when the Browns promoted Porter Gustin and Brandin Bryant to the active roster for the Dolphins game.

Moore played collegiately at Missouri. He was a fourth-round pick by the Green Bay Packers in the 2018 NFL Draft and played a little, but he failed to make the final roster in 2019. Moore is a bigger (listed 6-3/205) receiver who was a physical presence at Missouri, albeit one with inconsistent hands.

J.T. Hassell promoted from Browns practice squad to active roster

Hassell was a big hitter and special teams ace in preseason

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The Browns stayed within the building to replace injured safety Morgan Burnett. Instead of signing a free agent from outside, GM John Dorsey and the Browns chose to promote safety J.T. Hassell from the practice squad on Wednesday.

Hassell is an undrafted rookie from Florida Tech who made his mark as a hard-hitting thumper in the preseason. He’s a converted collegiate linebacker, which gives him a similar skillset to the one Burnett brought as a downhill safety in Steve Wilks’ defense.

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Hassell has spent the entire season on the Browns’ practice squad. In addition to promoting Hassell, Cleveland signed safety A.J. Howard to the practice squad to replace him. Howard is in his second NFL season and has bounced around several teams, most recently the Philadelphia Eagles.