Browns cut roster to the mandatory 53-player limit
By STEVE KING
A few thoughts as the Browns cut roster – along with the rest of the NFL teams – to the mandatory 53-player limit on Saturday in preparation for the start of the regular season:
*For starters … well, it’s that these guys who were cut – and barely avoided being cut — aren’t starters, and won’t be anytime soon. They’re all at the bottom of their respective rosters, having hung on by a thread through training camp and the preseason. As such, then, we can’t get too worked up one way or the other over what did – and didn’t – happen on Saturday with the Browns. With that having been said, though, I am not happy that defensive lineman Nate Orchard was let go. As it turned out, defensive lineman Devaroe Lawrence, who was acquired from the New Orleans Saints for a seventh-round pick in the 2019 NFL Draft, replaces Orchard on the roster. I wouldn’t know Devaroe Lawrence if he stood right in front of me. I know nothing about him, but I – know – we all know – about Orchard, and I think he could have helped the Browns. But again, no use wasting any time thinking about it – him — because neither Lawrence nor Orchard is going to sway the balance of power in the AFC North.
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*At the same time, the fact I am upset – or that anyone is upset — about Orchard or any of these guys being jettisoned means the Browns are getting better. For too long in the expansion era, especially in the last two seasons, the Browns cut players and nobody cared – in Northeast Ohio or elsewhere – because the club was merely cutting dead weight. Not anymore. Some of these guys will definitely show up on other NFL rosters.
*Now this team officially belongs to the regime led by first-year General Manager John Dorsey. He has sent packing a lot of what he inherited and replaced them with his guys. He has talked about this being a three-year process to get the Browns turned around. Well, guess what? The clock has started on that three-year period. He and the members of his personnel crew had better produce or else they, too, will eventually be jettisoned themselves.
