Browns making moves

The Cleveland Browns continue to move chess pieces around the board as they prepare their roster for a season without exhibition games.

The Browns have made two waiver claims and one of which was made with a clear eye to the future.

The Browns claimed Curtis Weaver off waivers from the Miami Dolphins, and I find this to be a claim that is very intriguing.
Weaver holds the Mountain West career record for sacks and was the conference defensive player of the year in 2019
I've watched a lot of Boise State games, so I've seen Curtis Weaver play often, and almost all of the draft observers had Weaver rated in the 2nd to 3rd round range with a few experts pegging Weaver as a possibility going late in the first round.

Instead, Weaver slid to the fifth round where he was selected by the Miami Dolphins and much like the Browns catching a break with Mack Wilson in the 2019 draft, Miami looked to have gotten lucky when a day one or day two player is available where their talents should not have placed them.
Weaver's motor is unquestioned as I've seen his attitude and hustle chase down runners on plays that would be easy to quit on.
The knock on Weaver by some is that he's a tweener that at 6'3, 265, he's too small for defensive end and not fast enough as a standup linebacker.
The Browns run a 4-3, so that does rule Weaver out as a linebacker, so they must be looking at him as a defensive end.

Weaver suffered a foot injury in Miami and the Dolphins attempted to slide him through waivers with an injury designation, figuring that no one would claim Weaver and he would clear waivers and spend the year on the injured reserve.
Cleveland surprised the Dolphins by claiming Weaver and essentially adding an extra draft pick from the 2020 session.
Miami traded up in the fifth round (they traded their fifth and seventh-round picks) to tab Weaver, so they had to have been surprised and disappointed to lose him.
The Browns will use a roster spot on Weaver until rosters are set and then place Weaver on their IR fo the season
The claim may prove to turn out to be just another claim, but it's possible the Browns may have added a productive player- They'll just have to wait a year to find out.

The Browns added another waived player that unlike Curtis Weaver, the team will be able to see right away in training camp as Cleveland claimed wide receiver Damion Willis from the Bengals off the waiver wire.
Willis was an undrafted free agent last season that made the team from Troy and caught nine passes
for eighty-two yards in ten games for Cincinnati.
Willis is more of a pure slot receiver than on the outside and will have to fight for the final wide receiver spot as the Browns are expected to keep Rashard Higgins, rookie Donovan Peoples-Jones, KhaDarel Hodge and JoJo Natson with Hodge being a key part of special teams and Natson expected to be the top return man.
That leaves one spot and possibly two between Willis, Damion Ratley, Taywon Taylor, and D.J. Montgomery to fight over.