Browns Camp — Sep 3: Cleveland Bought Veterans Anyway

The Browns practiced against Toriano Pride Jr. in August and claimed him on the 30-first. Cleveland took the cornerback off waivers from Buffalo on Monday, per the team — Buffalo's seventh-round pick out of Missouri, two interceptions there with one returned for a touchdown, two tackles and a pass defended across the preseason — and Todd Monken traced the claim to the joint practice, per Scott Petrak at BrownsZone: "We practiced against him and really liked the way he played and covered and competed." The spot came from defensive end Julian Okwara, cut Monday, per Petrak, with no reported destination. Then Tuesday, two veterans to the 53, per the team: cornerback Noah Igbinoghene, Miami's first-round pick in 2020, 69 games for Miami, Dallas and Washington, 35 tackles and five passes defended in Washington last year per Camryn Justice at News 5 Cleveland, off Seattle's preseason roster, signed to sit behind Denzel Ward and Tyson Campbell; and defensive end Sam Williams, Dallas's 2022 second-rounder, 49 games, nine and a half sacks, out of the Dallas organization after a 2024 lost to a torn knee, per Justice. Defensive tackle Kalia Davis went to injured reserve with a quad, out at least four games per Petrak, and undrafted cornerback Michael Coats Jr. was waived, per the team — Petrak expects Coats back on the practice squad if he clears. Ryan O'Leary at Dawg Pound Daily wrote Sunday that Cleveland was entering Week One with "next to no reliable depth" behind a nine-man defensive line, and that waiving whom they waived "almost certainly sets up another move or two." Two days later they had signed two more.

The front office's frame, from assistant general manager Catherine Hickman rather than Andrew Berry, whose voice does not appear in any coverage we can attribute this week: the Browns hold the league's second-youngest roster at 25.9 years, behind Miami, with 10 rookies and 12 second-year players. "Being young, that's actually something we're really proud of and excited about," and then the other half: "we also acknowledge that building a roster involves adding veteran presence as well, both from a performance standpoint but also mentorship." On Pride, Igbinoghene and Williams together: "Those are just players that come in and give us flexibility, give us some veteran presence as well, experience." Monken, per Petrak: "I'm excited, because we didn't have them. There's a reason why we signed them to come here, because we needed them, we needed the depth there."

The man the roster did not call back is the one both the coach and the front office were asked about. Luke Floriea, the undrafted Kent State receiver from Mentor, six preseason catches for 95 yards and three touchdowns with a fourth overturned by replay, two of them from Dillon Gabriel in the finale, was not among the 10 re-signed to the practice squad Monday, per Petrak, and was not among the four added Tuesday. Petrak's reason: no special-teams work, and Malachi Corley took the sixth receiver spot. Hickman: "Luke, to your point, had a great training camp. He's given us everything he's had, played really well," and "when we do put the roster together there are so many layers," and "it doesn't mean we couldn't bring him back in the future." Monken on the conversation: "All he did was work every single day." As of Wednesday he has no reported destination.

The practice squad is Cleveland's own cuts +4 from outside. 10 on Monday, all cut a day earlier, per Petrak: cornerbacks Myles Bryant and D'Angelo Ross, defensive ends Logan Fano and Khordae Sydnor, tackle KT Leveston, punter Wes Pahl behind Corey Bojorquez, defensive tackle Tyreak Sapp, safety Zion Washington, linebacker Nathaniel Watson and receiver Kole Wilson. Plus receiver Bub Means, per Jeremy Fowler at ESPN, carried by Mike Battaglino at Browns Nation — New Orleans's 2024 fifth-rounder, nine catches over two years with a season lost to an ankle. Tuesday, per the team: defensive tackle Sam Kamara, back after his contract was terminated Sunday; running back Jaleel McLaughlin from Denver; tight end Messiah Swinson from Green Bay's squad; and defensive tackle Chris Williams, most recently Indianapolis and Chicago. 15, as of Tuesday, by the team's own announcements and the beat's reporting. So of the three players whose contracts we told you were terminated Sunday — Bryant, Ross, Kamara — all three were back within two days. Cedric Tillman, cut the Thursday before, signed to the Saints' practice squad Tuesday, per New Orleans, after 38 games and 71 catches here; our page says waived, Pro Football Talk says released, and the fix is "cut."

The reserve list, per the team: Gabriel on injured reserve with a back, designated to return; tight end Joe Royer on the non-football illness list, designated to return, exactly as we told you; Davis added Tuesday. And the three cuts that reverted — defensive tackles Travis Bell and Elijah Chatman and linebacker Edefuan Ulofoshio, waived injured Sunday per the team and on injured reserve Monday per the league's transaction log. Isaiah Bond has not practiced since the August 22 preseason game against Buffalo and was still in concussion protocol Wednesday, per J.R. DeGroote at Heavy — cleared the in-game evaluation, developed symptoms after — not ruled out for Jacksonville, and each missed day is a day without Deshaun Watson and the first offense. The right guard job we told you was open is open: Teven Jenkins missed Tuesday's practice with the injuries that have run through his camp, per Chris Easterling at the Akron Beacon Journal, and Monken's line the same day was "I'd give Teven the lean, but I don't think it's done yet." Austin Barber, the rookie who moved inside in the Buffalo joint practices, allowed one sack on 40 pass-blocking snaps this preseason, 23 of them at guard, and on the move: "Being so tall, yeah, you got to get the pads down."

The quarterback argument did not move. Watson starts, Shedeur Sanders is one snap away, Taylen Green is third, and Gabriel's designation makes him eligible to return after four games. Nothing this week added to it or took from it.

Back in July we previewed Cleveland as a team closing its famous gap the painful way — schedule and bounce math arguing the record rises, the post-Garrett, post-Schwartz defense arguing the specialness leaves — with one question the 2026 season exists to answer: whether the improved team has a quarterback. The floor: five and 12, an offense 30-first in expected points added per play — the measure of how much each snap moved the expected score — and 30-second throwing it, under a defense that allowed the fifth-fewest expected points per play, with 53 sacks, third in the league. Cut day attached a name and a start date to the question. This week worked on the other half of the July frame: two veterans and a rookie corner, all three for the defense that lost its specialness, at the two spots the coach and the beat had called thin, by a front office that says it builds through the draft. The quarterback question is exactly where it was. What moved was the depth behind it.

Next is the Jaguars, Sunday, September 13, at EverBank Stadium. What to watch: whether Bond clears protocol in game week, and whether Jenkins practices. The Recap follows the game.

_Data via nflverse._