The Cutting Room Floor
Following the Browns roster cut down to 53 players the team has made a few minor moves through the week.
"Thats the wrong team David!"
The most notable post-cuts cut has to have been the releasing of Browns 2009 second round pick linebacker David Veikune. After surviving the final cuts over the weekend many sought solace in the fact that Veikune at least played well enough to survive the cuts. It had long been rumored by Browns beat writers that the Hawaii native was on the fence if terms of his likelihood of being cut.
When the announcement was made that Veikune had in fact made the team most Browns fans including myself had a semi-confident sigh of relief that a second round pick had not been wasted. Fast forward to Tuesday night and that moderate sense of optimism has since vanished.
The Browns announced the addition of cornerback Derrick Roberson and simultaneously made room on the 53 man roster by announcing the removal of Veikune.
Roberson (5-10 182 lbs) was an undrafted player out of Rutgers who played six games for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2009. The conspiracy theorists would suggest that this move was made to get inside information from Roberson in regards to the Buccaneers playbook and defensive game plan heading into the teams week one matchup against Tampa Bay (Hardly the craziest accusation I’ve heard towards the Bill Belichick disciple).
The more conservative opinions however attribute the move simply to the tough style of play Roberson has including his good tackling ability. It has becoming increasingly more obvious since final cuts that the primary reason for former Browns cornerback Brandon McDonald was released was directly related to his poor tackling ability.
In addition to Roberson the Browns also swapped out backup offensive lineman for a former Mike Holmgren draft pick in Steve Vallos.
Vallos (6-3 312 lbs) who was coached by Holmgren in 2008 has played in all 32 games he has been eligible for since entering the league. Vallos who like Bernie Kosar is a Boardman High School Alumni and has accumulated eight starts in his career.
The other big news of the weekend came when the Browns activated Pro Bowl defensive lineman Shawn Rogers. He’s practiced the first two days of the week so far and is reportedly stepped in right where he left off. The Browns have blocked their practice sessions from the media, but players haven’t been shy in talking up their steam rolling teammate. Rogers will certainly have a limited play count on Sunday, but his impact will be obvious.
As far as the practice squad a few moves have been announced including the re-acquisition of wide receiver Jordan Norward. Norward (5-11 179 lbs) was an undrafted player out of Penn State in 2009 who went through camp with the team before appearing in one game with the Philadelphia Eagles during the season.
Other notable additions to the Browns practice squad include the teams fifth round draft pick safety Larry Asante and defensive back DeAngelo Smith.
