On Monday, the Cleveland Browns announced the promotion of OL Anthony Fabiano (6-3, 303 lbs) from the practice squad. If you recall, the Browns signed Fabiano to their practice squad at the start of the season after he spent camp with the Baltimore Ravens as an undrafted free agent. Cleveland called him up to the active roster for one week to serve as a backup center, a position they were reportedly developing him for while on the practice squad.
The timing of the call-up is an interesting one because it puts the Browns at 53 players (they had originally opened a spot last week when they waived QB Joe Callahan). If the Browns plan to have QB Robert Griffin III available this week, they’ll need an open roster spot to get him on the roster. It would seem unlikely that Fabiano would be promoted and then released in a matter of days, which would lead me to wonder if a guy like OL Gabe Ikard could be released. Ikard is currently listed as the backup center on the depth chart, but with OL John Greco now on IR, the team might favor Fabiano’s skills as a reserve center on gameday.
In other news, the Carolina Panthers recently signed OT Dan France off the Browns’ practice squad to their 53-man roster. France has been with the Browns for the past two years on their practice squad. Replacing his spot on the practice squad is OL Zach Sterup, who will get people talking because of his size (6-9, 318 lbs). Sterup is a rookie out of Nebraska who has bounced between the practice squads of the Jets and Chiefs.