Cleveland Browns Add Seven to Practice Squad

by Chris Pokorny on Sep 1, 2008 11:30 AM EDT in General News Comment 8 comments

After signing offensive guard Scott Young to the 53-man roster last night, the Cleveland Browns named seven players to their practice squad today. I'm pleased with several of the players that we were able to stash away:

BROWNS THAT MADE PRACTICE SQUAD

WR Steve Sanders
WR Lance Leggett
DL Melila Purcell
S Travis Key

OTHERS THAT MADE PRACTICE SQUAD

RB Omar Cuff
OL Christian Gaddis
LB Titus Brown

That means the Browns have one spot remaining on the practice squad -- one that you would expect to go to OG Nate Bennett in a day or two.

Here is some quick background information on the new players, courtesy of the OBR:

RB Omar Cuff (5-10 and 195 lbs): "Was an undrafted rookie free agent out of Delaware who spent training camp with Tennessee. Cuff ran for 4,364 yards and 65 touchdowns during his collegiate career at Delaware."
OL Christian Gaddis (6-4 and 300 lbs): "Spent last season with the Buffalo Bills and appeared in one contest. Gaddis was originally an undrafted rookie free agent with Buffalo in 2007 out of Villanova. He spent ten weeks on the Bills practice squad before being signed to the active roster on Nov. 14, 2007. "
LB Titus Brown (6-3 and 245 lbs): "Was an undrafted rookie free agent out of Mississippi State who spent training camp with the Miami Dolphins. Brown was a four-year letterman at Mississippi State with 170 career tackles and 18.5 sacks."

Players who did not make the Browns' practice squad (and who were considered potential candidates) include DL Chase Pittman, RB Travis Thomas, LB Chase Ortiz, and DB A.J. Davis.

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I also noticed today that the Patriots signed Deltha O’Neal and the Jaguars signed William James. That means the only big name cornerback still available from Saturday cuts is Fernando Bryant. I DO NOT understand why it’s not in our interest to replace Gerard Lawson with a veteran of some experience. I’m content to be patient through mid-week next week, given the veteran salary guarantee clause, but at that point it’ll be hard to understand.

The Browns window is open now.

by NickFantana on Sep 1, 2008 1:01 PM EDT reply actions

Yes, I was wondering if the Browns would have interest in either one of those guys. Even if someone like O’Neal is not as good as he once was, wouldn’t he be an improvement over some of the guys we have? If we wait a couple of weeks to see how we look in real action, it could be too late to pick up anyone of value.

The best thing probably is to hit [Grady] 2nd -- Jay

by Buckeye Brad on Sep 1, 2008 2:50 PM EDT up reply actions

I was definately interested in O’neal coming here, but you gotta think maybe they just turned down our offer and went to another team. I mean it is free agency… They don’t have to come here and that is something I think some DB’s are doing.

by kjc on Sep 1, 2008 2:55 PM EDT up reply actions

Based on everything Savage has said, I get the impression that we didn’t even reach out to O’Neal or any other free agent cornerbacks.

Unless we suffer another injury at the cornerback position, or are terribly burned the first two weeks, I think Ty Law and/or Fernando Bryant will remain off our radar.

Dawgs By Nature - Find out why Pittsburgh still sucks.

by Chris Pokorny on Sep 1, 2008 3:41 PM EDT up reply actions

I think Savage has done a great job here, but I think that this is a mistake. Our secondary is a black hole right now and I think that Dallas and Pittsburgh can both exploit that. I fear an 0-2 start will lead to all sorts of problems that we don’t want right now.

I crave the approval of others.

by fwembt on Sep 1, 2008 7:46 PM EDT up reply actions

O’Neal is really bad at this point in his career, I am glad that we passed on him. Fernando Bryant is decent, pretty physical, definitely someone I would rather have over Lawson.

by Roger Dorn on Sep 1, 2008 9:39 PM EDT up reply actions

I agree, Bryant is the one I want. My hope is they bring him in after Week 1, maybe on the same flight as Joe Horn.

by NickFantana on Sep 1, 2008 11:03 PM EDT up reply actions

Scheme, scheme, scheme.

If our secondary really is that bad, hopefully we can protect them by rushing the passer and using different looks to confuse the other teams. I am positive we didn’t unveil everything we are going to do already. The secondary will look better than it did in the preseason (barring injury) due to the game plan. It will also probably look better without some of the chumps playing. Even without crazy blitzing, if our offense looks like it should, other teams will be playing catch up and we can play bend-don’t-break and look to get turnovers. Yes, we will probably lose to the Colts if we do that. Big deal.

The Giants won the super bowl AND beat the best passing attack in history with a crappy-to-decent secondary. Hopefully we can get 9 wins and a tie breaker with ours.

Regardless, I don’t think it is in the best interest of the team to do what is needed to bring in an impact DB. Guys who are cut from other teams probably wouldn’t even get on the field unless we went with a dime package. Maybe they could beat Terry Cousin or Mike Adams out for the nickel job, but probably not in less than one week. We should give people looks, but signing a guy just to sign a guy (or worse, trading away more 1st day picks) is only going to hurt the team.

An 0-2 start isn’t the end of the world. Those are two of the best teams in football. As long as the players use it as a wake-up call and don’t let it affect them negatively it won’t be a problem.

by rufio on Sep 2, 2008 12:20 AM EDT up reply actions