Browns Name Practice Squad, Claim Two Players

The Cleveland Browns named their practice squad today, and claimed two players off of waivers. By claiming two players off waivers, that means we had to waive two of our own players - Kirk Chambers and J'Vonne Parker. It's too bad Chambers didn't work out for us, and as for Parker, I didn't even realize he had made the team instead of Babatunde Oshinowo. To replace Chambers and Parker, we signed OT Kelly Butler and DE Jovan Haye.

Although Butler is only on the verge of being considered a "veteran", he has a lot more experience than Kirk Chambers had. Butler was originally a sixth-round draft choice by the Detroit Lions back in 2004. He did not play during the 2004 season, but he started all 16 games for the Lions last year at right tackle, which would probably put him ahead of Nat Dorsey on the depth chart on either side if needed. There were definitely notable problems with the Chambers/Dorsey platoon that attempted to fill in for Ryan Tucker during the preseason, so this is a move that I'm pleased with. Over the past two days, we've shored up the center position with veteran Hank Fraley, and added veteran depth to the tackle position. According to ESPN, he is best while blocking in the running game, but still needs to improve on pass protection.

Haye, on the other hand, does not have the same experience. He was selected in the sixth round by the Carolina Panthers last year, but did not play a single snap during the regular season. According to ESPN, he has nice speed coming off the edge, but has shown to be inconsistent.

In the other portion of the news, the Browns named their eight-man practice squad, which did not include a quarterback to my surprise. These players made the practice squad that were originally in Browns camp this year: RB Chris Barclay, WR Kendrick Mosley, C Rob Smith, OG Andrew Hoffman, NT Babatunde Oshinowo, DB Therrian Fontenot, DB Jereme Perry. The only player to make our team from elsewhere was TE Buck Ortega, who was released by the Washington Redskins. He attended college in Miami, the same place that Kellen Winslow Jr. did.

I'm definitely glad to see Oshinowo and Mosley make the squad, as well as several other players. I correctly predicted five of the right practice squad members, although after Oshinowo was cut, I figured we'd try to bring him to the practice squad. I expected QB Lang Campbell to make the squad, but with our QB situation, we probably felt that if they weren't good enough to even make our roster, we didn't need them.

Finally, the Browns reached injury settlements with DB Shawn Mayer and LB Clifton Smith. RB Lee Suggs was also claimed off waivers by the Miami Dolphins. We'll be rooting for Suggs this week, because if he plays, it'll be against the Pittsburgh Steelers this Thursday.