Browns Sign CB K'Waun Williams; WR Josh Cooper, TE Andre Smith to IR

We thought WR Josh Cooper was gone, but not quite. As it turns out, when Cooper was waived on Monday, the move was made with the "injured" designation. The collective bargaining agreement protects players who suffered an injury doing football activities.

Hypothetically, let's say that Cooper suffered a sprained ankle during voluntary minicamp. The Browns would not be able to waive him outright -- they would have to declare the transaction as "waived/injured." If a team would have claimed Cooper, that team would have owned the rights to him. Since Cooper cleared waivers, he returns to the Browns, but on the injured reserve. The same thing happened with TE Andre Smith.

What's next? Over the next five days, the Browns will likely negotiate injury settlements with both players, and then waive them at a later date to give them the opportunity to compete on some other team's roster. This ensures that teams don't screw players out of money who are injured (and double screw them because nobody else wants to sign an injured player). Neither Cooper nor Smith will count against the team's 90-man roster.

The Browns made another roster move on Tuesday by signing undrafted free agent CB K'Waun Williams out of Pittsburgh. Williams, who is 5-9, 183 lbs, participated in rookie minicamp this past weekend on a tryout basis. My last count has Cleveland at 89 players, meaning there is one open roster spot. We'll see who claims that spot over the next day or so.