The Browns have some work to do before their roster is complete. Their 53 players are heavy at some positions and light in others.
View full sizeBoth defensive backs Brandon McDonald (22) and back Chris Chancellor were released by the Cleveland Browns on Saturday. BEREA, Ohio — It took the Browns until well past 9 p.m. 'Saturday to announce how they got to the league limit of 53 players. But it's only a temporary roster and it's sure to change in the next couple days.
Need a clue? They kept three cornerbacks and 12 linebackers.
Sheldon Brown, Eric Wright and rookie Joe Haden may be good, but they're obviously going to need somebody to back them up.
Fourth-year cornerback Brandon McDonald, who started 27 of 48 career games, was the biggest name of 15 players cut Saturday.
Either the Browns didn't have the stomach to whittle down their bloated linebacker roster or they are working on some transactions in the days ahead.
Veterans David Bowens and Eric Barton remain on the roster along with second-year linebackers David Veikune and Kaluka Maiava.
D'Qwell Jackson, who is nursing a partially torn pectoral muscle and whose availability is uncertain, remains on the active list. And, in a mild surprise, second-year linebacker Titus Brown is still part of the group.
Other than those two position groupings, there were no major surprises.
Rookie quarterback Colt McCoy was kept. Brett Ratliff was not.
In all, six of Tom Heckert's eight picks in his first Browns draft made the team. That includes running back Montario Hardesty, who Friday was put on season-ending injured reserve with a torn anterior cruciate ligament. The only draft choices cut were safety Larry Asante (fifth round) and defensive lineman Clifton Geathers (sixth). They are candidates to rejoin the team's practice squad after they pass through waivers by midday today.
Heckert chose to wait to announce the roster moves more than three hours after they were filed with the NFL office because he did not want to give other teams a jump on identifying potential waiver claims. The Browns, in fact, were one of the last teams to publicly announce their moves.
The current roster includes several players like Jackson whose availability is uncertain.
Nose tackle Shaun Rogers was activated off the physically unable to perform list. Rogers has not practiced with the team this year after having off-season surgery, believed to be on a broken ankle. The Browns have never confirmed where on his body the surgery took place.
Also, offensive tackle John St. Clair missed the last two preseason games and several practices for undisclosed personal reasons, and offensive guard Floyd Womack has been out for weeks after having a procedure on a knee. Another uncertainty is safety and special teams ace Nick Sorensen, who has been out with a concussion suffered in the Detroit game Aug. 28.
Other nuances of the current roster:
The Browns kept four tight ends -- Benjamin Watson, Evan Moore, Robert Royal and Alex Smith. And they kept four running backs -- Jerome Harrison, James Davis, Lawrence Vickers and Peyton Hills.
Billy Yates is the only healthy backup guard.
Fourteen of the 53 players were not on the team's active roster or injury list at the conclusion of the 2009 season.
Besides McDonald, the most notable deletions among the veterans were Ratliff, running back Chris Jennings and receiver Bobby Engram.
Ratliff, who co-authored the Gatorade dunking of coach Eric Mangini in the 2009 finale, made plays to set up game-winning field goals in the exhibition victories over Green Bay and Chicago. But his rating in the preseason was only 46.2 and he was intercepted twice with no touchdown passes.
Jennings had a small window to make the team through the injury to Hardesty, but Davis' preseason-ending performance slammed it shut. Jennings, who scored the first rushing touchdown of the season last year in the win over Pittsburgh, rushed 12 times for 27 yards in the preseason.
Engram joined the squad late, just prior to training camp, at the behest of his former coach in Seattle, Browns President Mike Holmgren. Engram, 37, and in his 15th NFL year, led the Browns with six catches in the last preseason game. He had nine overall -- tied with Hillis for the lead in four practice games -- for 83 yards.
To reach this Plain Dealer reporter: tgrossi@plaind.com, 216-999-4670