Cleveland Browns Roster Cuts: The Final 53-Man Roster

The following players were cut (or placed on IR) by the Cleveland Browns, trimming their roster to the league-required 53 players. Make sure you react to all of the cuts in the comments section below! The final 53-man roster is also at the bottom of this post.

Offensive Players Cut

• QB Kyle Lauletta
• RB John Kelly
• FB Johnny Stanton
• WR KhaDarel Hodge
• WR/KR JoJo Natson
• WR Ja’Marcus Bradley
• TE Jordan Franks
• TE Kyle Markway
• C Javon Patterson
• OL Colby Gossett

Defensive Players Cut

• DE Porter Gustin
• DE Cameron Malveaux
• DE Curtis Weaver
• DE Joe Jackson
• DT Sheldon Day
• DT Marvin Wilson
• LB Elijah Lee
• LB Willie Harvey Jr.
• LB Tegray Scales
• CB Brian Allen
• CB Manny Rugamba
• S Sheldrick Redwine
• S Jovante Moffatt
• S Elijah Benton

Injured Reserve

• OT Greg Senat
• OG Drew Forbes

Other Notes

• Looking back at my final roster projection, I correctly picked 49-of-53 (92.5%) players who made the initial final roster. Even though I didn’t announce it on the site, after the third preseason game, I made one change in my head: I decided that I was removing WR JoJo Natson and putting RB D’Ernest Johnson on the final 53. So, depending on whether you want to trust me on that, I would’ve had 50-of-53 players correct.
• The three players who I projected to get cut but made the roster were: DT Andrew Billings, LB Malcolm Smith, and CB M.J. Stewart.
• The three players who I projected to make the roster but were cut were: DT Porter Gustin, DT Sheldon Day, and LB Elijah Lee.
• Cleveland is starting things off by carrying 10 offensive linemen, which is something I think a few people called me out on being too many (humble brag).
• As expected, the defensive line was the toughest unit to predict. When it was announced that Gustin was cut, people assumed that it meant DE Joe Jackson was making the roster. He was a final cut too, though, as was Day. The team opted to keep Billings — which doesn’t surprise me necessarily, that was kind of my “let me try to get creative” cut. It would be great if Billings played like he used to in Cincy as a solid rotational player. The player who helped his stock the most was DT Malik McDowell, who is a dark horse to be the steal of the offseason.
• Remember that Cleveland will free up one roster spot soon, when they place LB Jacob Phillips on IR. That will allow them to bring back one of the guys they cut — perhaps Lee or one of their defensive linemen. Also, remember that this is just the “initial” 53-man roster. The Browns don’t have a high waiver wire spot this year, so don’t expect them to claim a bunch of players. However, they could still try to sign a player for depth purposes.
• It’ll be interesting to see who from the Browns gets claimed. My assumptions are that Hodge will definitely be claimed by someone, and then either DT Marvin Wilson or S Sheldrick Redwine also have a fair shot of drawing interest on waivers.

Final 53-Man Roster (as of 8/31/21)

The following players do not count toward the 53-man roster:

• Injured Reserve: OT Greg Senat, OG Drew Forbes
• Suspended/Reserve List: WR Davion Davis