PS looking good

It's always fun at this time of the National Football League season to play a game of "I hope the Browns bring him back to the practice squad" after initially paring the roster to the very fluid final 53 men.

Because the starters barely played in the exhibition season, that gave us a chance to see a sizable number of players on the roster logging huge minutes in an effort to either convince the Browns they are ready to move up or attract the attention of the other 31 teams.

Of the 28 Browns who were jettisoned either via the waiver wire, contract termination (flat out released) or injured reserve, I circled 12 names of those who impressed during the meaningless games. The good news? Of the 11 who have been signed to the 16-man practice squad thus far, 10 are on that list. Five slots remain.

I did not circle wide receiver KhaDarel Hodge and safety Sheldrick Redwine. Hodge because even though the Browns wanted him back, too many other teams had taken notice and his loss was inevitable. Redwine, on the other hand, was not an Andrew Berry draft pick. The Browns preferred to bring back another safety.

The Detroit Lions not surprisingly claimed Hodge. Not surprising because John Dorsey, a senior personnel executive with the Lions, claimed Hodge off waivers for the Browns in 2019 while their general manager. Redwine immediately signed with the New York Jets.

Of the 12 I circled, only rookie defensive tackle Marvin Wilson bolted. Wilson, who signed a $192,000 with Cleveland as an undrafted free agent, chose instead to take an offer from Philadelphia and begin on the Eagles' practice squad.

Other than that, the return of defensive ends Curtis Weaver, Joe Jackson and Porter Gustin, tight end Jordan Franks, wide receiver J'Marcus Bradley, running back John Kelly, defensive tackle Sheldon Day, linebacker Elijah Lee, safety Javon Moffatt and H-back Johnny Stanton IV give the Browns a solid practice squad.

Not excited about the return of wide receiver JoJo Natson, who I believe is superfluous to the needs on offense. He is primarily a kick returner. So are rookie Demetric Felton, D'Ernest Johnson and Donovan Peoples-Jones. 

The 12th name I circled was defensive end Cameron Malveaux, who was on the practice squad last season and filled in nicely late in the season when Myles Garrett went down with COVID-19. He is still out there, but the feeling is Berry has already brought back three defensive ends and is looking elsewhere.

In his meanderings through the extremely crowded waiver wire, I keep waiting for Berry to bring in a kicker to challenge Chase McLaughlin. Giving him the job by default is not the wisest move with this high-powered offense.

The Browns will play a number of close games this season and a reliable leg is ultra important. Languishing out there on the street are veterans like Dan Bailey (33), Nick Folk (36), Randy Bullock (31) and Zane Gonzalez (26), who was drafted by the Browns in 2017.

After a decent rookie season, Gonzalez got off to a disastrous start in 2018 and was waived after only two games. He spent the next two seasons with Arizona.. After being waived last March, he signed as a free agent with Detroit, but the Lions cut him loose in the cutdown to 53.

The only non-Brown signed to the practice squad thus far is quarterback Nick Mullens, who originally signed with San Francisco as a free agent in 2017 and rostered three seasons. He signed with Philadelphia as a free agent last June and was also a victim of the cutdown to 53 by the Eagles.

Reasoning behind the signing is Mullens is very familiar with the Browns' offense, which is similar to the one choreographed by 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan.