Browns 53-man roster literally 3 players short

Likely much to do about nothing in the long run but, currently as of Wednesday night of Week 11, the Cleveland Browns 53-man roster is three players short. While the Browns had a bye week last week, GM Andrew Berry traded away DE Za’Darius Smith and released DT Quinton Jefferson.

While Smith’s debut with his new team was delayed, Jefferson sacked for Cleveland QB Joe Flacco in Week 10.

Not only did those two moves leave the Browns roster thin on the defensive line, Cleveland also placed LB Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah on injured reserve 10 days ago and never filled his roster spot.

Last Tuesday, we offered up a few defensive line options to fill in for Smith and Jefferson but Berry didn’t make any moves. As the Browns get ready for the first practice in preparation for Week 11’s matchup with the New Orleans Saints, they released the unofficial depth chart.

So we got to counting and recounting to make sure we didn’t make a mistake each time we got to just 50 players on Cleveland’s 53-man roster:

*QB (3): Jameis Winston, Dorian Thompson-Robinson, Bailey Zappe

*RB (4): Nick Chubb, Jerome Ford, Pierre Strong Jr., D’Onta Foreman

*WR (5): Cedric Tillman, Jerry Jeudy, Elijah Moore, Jamari Thrash, Jaelon Darden

*TE (3): David Njoku, Jordan Akins, Geoff Swaim

*OL (9): Dawand Jones, Joel Bitonio, Ethan Pocic, Wyatt Teller, Jack Conklin, Jedrick Wills, Zak Zinter, Michael Dunn, Germain Ifedi

Total on offense: 24

*DE (3): Myles Garrett, Ogbo Okoronkwo, Isaiah McGuire

*DT (4): Dalvin Tomlinson, Shelby Harris, Mike Hall Jr., Maurice Hurst

*LB (6): Jordan Hicks, Mohamoud Diabate, Devin Bush, Nathaniel Watson, Winston Reid, Khaleke Hudson

*CB (5): Denzel Ward, Martin Emerson, Greg Newsome II, Cameron Mitchell, Mike Ford Jr.

*S (5): Grant Delpit, Juan Thornhill, Ronnie Hickman, Rodney McLeod, D’Anthony Bell

Total on defense: 23

*K (1): Dustin Hopkins

*P (1): Corey Bojorquez

*LS (1): Rex Sunahara

Total on special teams: 3

It is likely that Berry will just elevate three off of the practice squad but then they will need to fill those spots as well. There have been no reports of the Browns having any players in for workouts or visits since JOK went on injured reserve on the 10th.

We will wait and see when Cleveland’s 53-man roster is filled but have to wonder why it has not been done yet.