Friday, May 4, 2018

Browns still busy.

John Dorsey wasn't finished with his work with the Cleveland Browns roster even after the draft as before rookie camp started this week, Dorsey was still making minor moves to tweak his roster.

Let us begin with something that has nothing to do with the roster as the Browns are trying to do anything to 'change the culture" that involves almost anything they can think of to forget 1-31 (Which is most likely either first or second on the list of reasons the uniforms will be changed as soon as they become eligible to do so) and one gimmick is for rookies to "Earn their stripes" in rookie camp with the helmet being stripped of their stripes (see what I did there?) until the rookies "earn" them.
Here's the thing though- I like the helmet without stripes!
I know I'm an old-school traditionalist that wishes the uniforms were never changed, but I really like the no stripe look, which frankly surprises me a decent amount!
I might even give the no stripe look a chance if I could see them if I could see them with the old jerseys.

Dorsey swung a trade with his old club in Kansas City as he sent tight end Randall Telfer to the Chiefs for linebacker Dadi Nicolas in a one for one swap.
You might want to keep track of how many players come through town over the next year or so with some sort of background with Kansas City as it's just the way things go in these situations.
We've been through Eric Mangini bringing in former Jets. Tom Heckert former Eagles, Phil Savage former Ravens etc, so this is nothing new, but something to watch for.
Telfer was the Browns "Man of the Year" last year for his work in the community and even announced a Browns pick at the draft, which in hindsight seems a little cold-blooded, but Telfer is strictly a blocking tight end as he caught five passes for a whopping forty yards in his career and when the Browns signed Darren Fells in the off-season, Telfer's future wasn't difficult to decipher.

John Dorsey selected Dadi Nicolas in the sixth round in 2016 and Nicolas made the team, playing in 11 games before suffering a knee injury that finished his 2016 year, but cost him the entire 2017 season as well.
Nicolas is listed as a defensive end, but at 235 pounds, looks to me to be more of an outside end rusher/outside linebacker in passing situations.
The Virginia Tech product will need to make the team on his speed, but among a linebacking corps that lacks a blazing pass rusher, Nicolas could have a chance to make the team assuming that his knee hasn't taken a step off his speed.

Editor's Note: After all of that, the trade was called off the next day with both players being waived by their original teams.

The Browns claimed a linebacker off waivers as the team added Jermaine Grace off waivers from the Indianapolis Colts.
Grace played 11 games last season for the Falcons and Colts as a special teamer after not being drafted in 2017 out of Miami.
Grace will likely have to make the Browns on special teams again, but these types of waiver claims are usually opportunities to improve the speed on special teams and maybe in a fortunate circumstance the player might add depth at his regular position.

The Browns waived two players, one of which makes sense with two linebackers being brought in as Dominque Alexander and Darius Jackson were given their releases.
Alexander signed in 2016 as an undrafted free agent out of Oklahoma, spending two years with the team before his season ended when he was injured after four games, which led to Alexander failing his physical.
Jackson was a 2016 waiver claim from Dallas that excited a few fans after an excellent preseason, but never made the field after being claimed late in the 2016 season and was injured in the 2017 Browns training camp.

I'm sure that there will be a few more moves before camp and I'll try to keep them updated.
Still working on the inbox cleaning and I even have one already in the queue that is ready to roll when I don't have other coverage, but I'm working on even more to not only clean the inbox but post them with one push of a button.




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