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

1. WR Steve Sanders
2. WR Lance Leggett
3. DL Melila Purcell
4. S Travis Key

OTHERS THAT MADE PRACTICE SQUAD

1. RB Omar Cuff
2. OL Christian Gaddis
3. 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.

It's one of the more exciting days as a fan to find out who will be available on gameday during the regular season, but for those who have been cut, it has to feel like a downer. Overall, my projections were pretty good, but there was a shocker -- the removal of wide receiver Travis Wilson. You have to wonder if that one dropped catch against the Bears cost him everything.

FINAL TRANSACTIONS (TO GET ROSTER DOWN TO 53)

Players Waived

1. WR Travis Wilson - I wouldn't be surprised if he still gets brought back at some point though, if we run into another injury.
   
2. WR Steve Sanders
3. WR Efrem Hill
4. WR Lance Leggett
   
5. TE Brad Cieslak - Good luck to wherever he goes next.
   
6. TE Kolomona Kapanui
7. OL James Lee - I hope to see him on the practice squad.
   
8. OL Jonathan Palmer
9. DL Melila Purcell
   
10. LB David McMillan - A shame he never caught on.
    
11. LB Chase Ortiz
12. DB A.J. Davis
13. DB Jereme Perry
    
14. DB Travis Key - Big-time playmaker in little time with the Browns; hope to see him on the practice squad.
    
15. DB Brandon Mitchell
16. K Jason Reda - If Dawson gets hurt, I think he did enough to get the first phone call.
    

Waived-Injured

1. RB Travis Thomas
2. OL Derrick Morse
3. OL Marvin Philip
4. DL Chase Pittman

Terminated-Vested Veteran

1. LB Shantee Orr

Injured Reserve

1. OL Lennie Friedman

Here are some of players who were on the bubble and made the final 53-man roster:

POSSIBLE SURPRISES (THEY MADE THE FINAL ROSTER)

1. WR Syndric Steptoe - His strong preseason effort paid off, and I'm sure his progress on kick returns helped him in case Joshua Cribbs gets banged up again.
   
2. WR Paul Hubbard - This is probably a fairness issue -- they gave Travis Wilson several years to develop before cutting ties with him, so why not give Hubbard at least a year to progress?
   
3. OL Nate Bennett - With Lennie Friedman being placed on the injured reserve (speaking of which, when did he get banged up?), Bennett takes his roster spot. I don't think anyone could've projected this one unless they had inside information on Friedman.
   
4. OL Isaac Sowells - My reasons hold true. Take that, doubters! ;)
   
5. DL Louis Leonard - He adds some versatility, because he can play nose tackle or defensive end.
   
6. DL Ahtyba Rubin - Showed more progress in his first camp than Babatunde Oshinowo seemed to.
   
7. DB Gerard Lawson - He had some trouble tackling in the final preseason game, but I thought his awareness level was a little higher than the rest of the guys trying to make the team. He's also taken a few reps at kick and punt return -- if Cribbs is out Week 1, the Browns could put Steptoe at kick returner and Lawson at punt returner (or Lawson could do both if Steptoe is out for a week too).
   

Leave your thoughts on the cuts here. I correctly projected 49/53 roster spots, which is 92.4% accuracy. Grade me with an "A" ;). I will be updating this post shortly with a little note next to some of the players.

I have to admit: live-blogging the Browns' Sirius Radio show earlier on Dawgs By Nature kind of wore me out. Usually I'm energized to whip up these training camp posts, but after four straight hours of a long recap, I feel like just getting them over with at the moment.

What I feel like doing, is irrelevant in a way though -- I can't stand to fall behind or leave any details out. If the recaps feel a little rushed though, I hope you'll understand.

GREAT LINK: ATENEARS over at thebrownsboard.com attended the evening session and has another personal recap up that I highly recommend. Some decent pictures are included as well.

TRAINING CAMP REPORT - DAY 8 [MORNING] (7/30/08)

Rain hit the Browns' camp for about 15 minutes this morning. The team practiced through it.
1. Rain Delivers: It's almost as if it was planned how everything went down the past two days. Yesterday, the heat came for the first time in camp, testing the players in near 90-degree weather. Today, it rained for 15 minutes during camp, and the team practiced through it. The length of the storm was very convenient -- the team didn't have to worry about moving practice indoors, and got some valuable real-game weather reps in without anybody suffering an injury.
2. Sloppy Offense: The Plain Dealer reports that as the rain continued to fall, the offense got sloppier. A botched handoff between Derek Anderson and Jamal Lewis, a dropped pass by Jason Wright (presumably he would've been wide open), and an interception by defensive back Nick Sorensen on a pass from Brady Quinn were among the lowlights during the downpour.
3. New Holdouts: Not contractual holdouts, of course, but injury holdouts. Shaun Smith and Antwan Peek did not practice, with each of them having sore knees. They missed the night cap too, and Crennel said they should be back in a day or two.
4. Zebras in Attendance: For a practice session for each team, the league sends a few NFL referees to let players know any rule changes or if they are doing anything wrong. That day was today for the Browns.
5. Shot for Perry: He hasn't drawn much praise for his second run with the Browns, but defensive back Jereme Perry had a nice shot on wide receiver Efrem Hill in the morning, drawing audience reaction.
CB Brandon McDonald applying tight coverage on WR Donte Stallworth during the morning session.
6. Travis Thomas: It's intriguing how much of an impression this guy has made in camp, including the morning as well. However, on one play, rookie linebacker Beau Bell came with a blitz and absolutely leveled Thomas, knocking him into quarterback Ken Dorsey.
7. Dawson Drilling 'Em: Towards the end of practice, kicker Phil Dawson was drilling field goals left and right, with his longest being measured in at 48 yards.
8. Cribbs Throws: Yesterday, Joshua Cribbs only ran the QB draw when he lined up at the shotgun position. Today, he actually rolled out and threw the ball on several occasions. The Plain Dealer reports that he looked rusty throwing the ball.
9. Drill Existed, I'm Sure: Tony Grossi reported the following: "running backs practiced their goal-line vaults by leaping over plastic garbage cans and onto a soft, heavy mat." Grossi then stated that he'd never seen that drill before at camp, however I swear I recall it being done at some point last year or two years ago.
10. Rare Mention: We haven't given many shoutouts -- if any -- to UDFA linebacker Chase Ortiz. Grossi reports that Ortiz came on a nice blitz during the morning by rushing Ken Dorsey and swatting his pass down.

And now, for the nightcap, a.k.a. evening session:

TRAINING CAMP REPORT - DAY 8 [EVENING] (7/30/08)

1. Edwards' Day Off: With more and more players getting "casual" sessions off now, the evening session was the break for Braylon Edwards.
RB Jamal Lewis participates in the "Trash Can Drill" during the morning session. I'd love to jump over trash cans onto a mat.
2. Daily Wilson: With Edwards being off, Travis Wilson was promoted to the first team for the session and continued looking good. His highlight, according to the Plain Dealer, was a nice catch on a pass from Ken Dorsey over the middle.
3. Steptoe's Props: Receiver Syndric Steptoe also had a nice catch -- a leaping grab on a pass from Brady Quinn. With Edwards and Kevin Kasper out, Steptoe also saw increased playing time.
   
4. Baxter's Off Too?: It's being assumed that nothing was seriously wrong with him, and that Gary Baxter was just given the night off like Edwards was. The reason for suspicion is that he wasn't even on the sidelines...
5. Winslow Thrives: There's no stopping Kellen Winslow, who continued making his job look too easy.
6. Nightmarish: One receiver who didn't take advantage of Edwards and Kasper being out was rookie Paul Hubbard. The coaches seemed frustrated by his play, and in turn he seemed to get more frustrated as practice went on.
   
7. Mr. Hall: After getting a lot of mentions on Sirius NFL Radio earlier today, Alex Hall didn't stop showing up. He reportedly continued to impress, defending passes like a veteran.
8. ATENEARS' Brownies: At the top of the page, I linked to a post at thebrownsboard.com. Here are some tidbits from there: WR Steve Sanders has a lot of quickness and good route running. TE Brad Cieslak looks fundamentally sound still, just not a roster spot available for him. CB Damon Jenkins has good coverage on a good route by WR Joshua Cribbs. Make sure you check out his entire recap to get the proper taste though...
   

Here is the collection of sources for much of the information above:

Browns dodge raindrops on Day 8 (Cleveland Plain Dealer, Grossi)

The company line - OL/DL assessment (Waiting for Next Year, Rick)

WFNY camp pics from earlier in week (Waiting for Next Year, Scott) << Fun Read

Day 8 of training camp (WTAM, Andre Knott)

'Big Baby' Rogers makeing impression (Cleveland Plain Dealer, Cabot)

Training camp log: Day 8 (Cleveland Plain Dealer, Cabot)

Camp observations: July 30 morning (Ohio.com, Thomas)

Camp observations: July 30 evening (Ohio.com, Thomas)

Spotting a Trend (Official Site, King)

The Browns have an afternoon practice tomorrow afternoon, before their highly-anticipated session this Friday at Cleveland Browns Stadium.

Edit from Chris: Looking back, I love how I prefaced this post with a "don't be surprised if it seems rushed", and yet it doesn't appear rushed at all. Plus, it didn't really end up being tiring either -- I quickly got my blood flowing again after the first bullet point or two. Cheers!