Browns promote WR Rashard Higgins, waive DE Tyrone Holmes again

Hollywood is back in business.

On Saturday, the Cleveland Browns announced that they have promoted WR Rashard Higgins to the active roster. That will give the Browns seven wide receivers on the 53-man roster, and with none of the other six receivers having an injury, it’s doubtful that Higgins will suddenly be active on Sunday.

Why promote Higgins now, then? Last week, we noted that Higgins was one of the highest-paid practice squad players in football, indicating that the second-year receiver had interest from other clubs. If I had to guess, another team was probably about to sign Higgins off the Browns’ practice squad to their 53-man roster, and Cleveland still preferred hanging on to him. The 6’1” and 198-pound Higgins was a fifth-round pick by the Browns in 2016 after excelling at Colorado State. As a rookie, he appeared in 15 total games and logged six receptions for 77 yards.

Sadly for many fans, Higgins’ arrival means someone else had to go, and that player is once again defensive end Tyrone Holmes. Holmes was originally brought back as an insurance policy at defensive end after Myles Garrett suffered an ankle injury. One might try to connect the dots and say this is a good sign for Garrett’s health after Week 2, but I’m not ready to connect those dots just yet. Holmes spent 11 weeks with the Browns last season and was a reserve for their Week 1 loss to the Steelers. He had a couple of tryouts lined up before re-signing with Cleveland last week.

In other transaction-related news:

• Last week, we forgot to mention that OL Zach Sterup was re-signed to the practice squad.
• On Friday, the Browns signed CB C.J. Smith to their practice squad. He was an undrafted free agent who played special teams for the Eagles in 2016. He was on the Eagles’ practice squad in Week 1 this year, but was released from it earlier in the week.
• The Browns also released RB Brandon Wilds from injured reserve.