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JC
I know we currently have Oby listed as FB but the Bengals just cut John Connor who I think to be a very good FB and was rather surprised to see him released. With all the injuries to our RB corp, why not make Oby the direct backup to Richardson, sign Connor, and release one of the recent UDFA we just signed?
Who knows, perhaps they'll look at him. But we did just sign two very young but promising guys as back ups to TRich.
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New kicker is Billy Cundiff.
http://www.rotoworld.com/playernews/nfl/football-player-news
So you're saying we are going to have a kicker for the first game. I thought this incompetent staff was going to forget.
This cant be! We ditched our last kicker because he was over 30...
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JC
I know we currently have Oby listed as FB but the Bengals just cut John Connor who I think to be a very good FB and was rather surprised to see him released. With all the injuries to our RB corp, why not make Oby the direct backup to Richardson, sign Connor, and release one of the recent UDFA we just signed?
Who knows, perhaps they'll look at him. But we did just sign two very young but promising guys as back ups to TRich.
"Promising" is a point of view..... 
At DT, context and meaning are a scarecrow kicking at moving goalposts.
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Right, because in NFL terms, 33 and 38 are the same because they are both over 30........ That and he was making almost $4 million a year and wasn't likely to cut that in half to stay here.
yebat' Putin
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sarcasm bro...It was a shot at ________ and his Banner doesnt keep players over 30 stuff.
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JC
I know we currently have Oby listed as FB but the Bengals just cut John Connor who I think to be a very good FB and was rather surprised to see him released. With all the injuries to our RB corp, why not make Oby the direct backup to Richardson, sign Connor, and release one of the recent UDFA we just signed?
Who knows, perhaps they'll look at him. But we did just sign two very young but promising guys as back ups to TRich.
"Promising" is a point of view.....
So is unpromsing, but I prefer to not dwell on the negative. 
#GMSTRONG
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Daniel Patrick Moynahan
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Damanshot
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I wonder if we will go after LB Jo-Lonn Dunbar He just got cut by the rams and he was projected to start. He's serving a 4 game suspension.
Hunter + Dart = This is the way.
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JC
I know we currently have Oby listed as FB but the Bengals just cut John Connor who I think to be a very good FB and was rather surprised to see him released. With all the injuries to our RB corp, why not make Oby the direct backup to Richardson, sign Connor, and release one of the recent UDFA we just signed?
Who knows, perhaps they'll look at him. But we did just sign two very young but promising guys as back ups to TRich.
"Promising" is a point of view.....
So is unpromsing, but I prefer to not dwell on the negative.
It sure is...so keeping it balanced with all UDFA, I like the term "unknown" best.
But really, it is not about these UDFA as it is Oby's long-term viability as a FB--well, at least for me it is. Personally, I think this position gets addressed/upgraded at some point and it doesn't involve Oby as our answer to the position. But with that said, I don't necessarily think he has played bad there and he had made some good, clean blocks. I'd rather have Oby as a backup RB if we have him on this roster, but that's just me. I can't help but feel he is our stop gap for the time being at the position, which is why I bring up someone like Connor.
At DT, context and meaning are a scarecrow kicking at moving goalposts.
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New kicker is Billy Cundiff.
http://www.rotoworld.com/playernews/nfl/football-player-news
So you're saying we are going to have a kicker for the first game. I thought this incompetent staff was going to forget.
This cant be! We ditched our last kicker because he was over 30...
we didn't really have many options. the season starts in a few days.... we didn't draft a Kicker, the ones we brought it sucked. what else could we do... sign kickalicious? Cundiff had the upper hand because he was here once already. Next year we will find/draft a rookie kicker.
Hunter + Dart = This is the way.
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Not sure about the injury, but I don't think Ghram is great on kickoffs. I could be wrong, though.
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So we had a young guy and a veteran in a competition to kick. I'm sure they hoped Bogatay would win out but he got injured and then Graham pulls up lame as well. Kickers can 't kick when they're injured so neither one was an option for us. Not exactly as it was planned. It happens. "On final cutdown day, the Browns surprised folks by terminating the contract of 12-year kicker Shayne Graham, who made all three of his field goals in preseason but sat out the Bears game with a stiff back." web page
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He isn't.
I agree with John Hart....closers grow on trees. It's all about opportunity. Not that you might not have to go through a couple of guys to get there, but you will get there.
Same with kickers.
There are a ton of kickers with talent enough. It's simply a matter of finding your guy. Being a kicker in the NFL is more a function of time and place than anything else.
If everybody had like minds, we would never learn. GM Strong ![[Linked Image]](http://www.dawgtalkers.net/uploads/small-gator-chomp.gif)
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Link We cut the new running back Dennis Johnson and signed Gurley to the 53 man roster.
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This makes me feel better. I didn't want to head into the game with only 4 WR available. I'd assume this was the plan all along ... Rainey/Johnson compete all week and then cut one and bring back Gurley.
"First down inside the 10. A score here will put us in the Super Bowl. Cooper is far to the left as Njoku settles into the slot. Moore is flanked out wide to the right. Chubb and Ford are split in the backfield as Watson takes the snap ... Here we go."
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Here is the link to Gurley being promoted.
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We cut the new running back Dennis Johnson and signed Gurley to the 53 man roster.
Mike Lombardi is a terrible GM. There should not be this much chaos leading up to the first game. I guess he is trying to mold the Browns into the Oakland Raiders.
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Browns promote WR Tori Gurley to active roster, waive RB Dennis Johnson By Nate Ulrich Published: September 7, 2013 The Browns promoted wide receiver Tori Gurley from the practice squad to the active roster on the eve of their regular-season opener against the Miami Dolphins, the team announced today. The Browns also confirmed they waived undrafted rookie running back Dennis Johnson after a league source told the Beacon Journal the team was releasing Johnson today. The 6-foot-4, 230-pound Gurley, a two-year letterman at the University of South Carolina, spent training camp with the Browns this summer before being waived and then added to the practice squad on Sept. 2. He spent time on the practice squads of the Minnesota Vikings (three weeks), San Diego Chargers (three weeks), Tampa Bay Buccaneers (two weeks) and Oakland Raiders (two weeks) in last year after spending the entire 2011 season on the practice squad of the Green Bay Packers. The Browns now have five receivers on the active roster heading into their opener Sunday against the Dolphins: Gurley, Greg Little, Davone Bess, Travis Benjamin and Josh Cooper. Josh Gordon, the team’s No. 1 receiver, is suspended for the first two regular-season games because he violated the NFL’s substance-abuse policy. The addition of Gurley will give the Browns the depth and insurance they might want in the event they choose to use Benjamin as a kickoff returner Sunday. Benjamin is the team’s primary punt returner, but he said this week he also thinks he’ll probably return kickoffs against the Dolphins. The Browns claimed Johnson off waivers from the Houston Texans on Sunday and listed him third on their depth chart at running back and kickoff returner. The Browns have Bobby Rainey second on the depth chart behind starting running back Trent Richardson, and Chris Ogbonnaya is expected to have a dual role as a fullback and tailback. In the preseason with the Texans, Johnson had 33 carries for 129 yards (3.9 average) and one touchdown to go along with five receptions for 31 yards. The 5-foot-7, 193-pound Johnson starred as a running back and a kickoff returner for the University of Arkansas. http://www.ohio.com
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We cut the new running back Dennis Johnson and signed Gurley to the 53 man roster.
Didn't see that coming.. Anyway, I know we signed him off the Texans PS so he had to go to our roster, now that he's been cut, can we, after the proper period of time, sign him to our PS?
Just wondering.
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This type of stuff happens all the time. There is no chaos.
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Obviously they just brought him in to kick the tires and have a look see under the hood. When they had finished up their inspection  they sent him packing... It's more then likely they had this in mind from jump.... JMHO
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Yes. I think it was clear from the start that Rainey was a more dynamic player.
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We cut the new running back Dennis Johnson and signed Gurley to the 53 man roster.
Mike Lombardi is a terrible GM. There should not be this much chaos leading up to the first game. I guess he is trying to mold the Browns into the Oakland Raiders.
Nah, he's just another of those outsmarters who try hard to emulate Belly,without his resume of course. We already had one of those running the Browns, that worked out just great too, lol. It's the NFL version of the psychiartric Napoleon's or Jesus' psychosis. Really funny if they dont happen to be your relatives or run the team you follow.
Anyway, cutting Johnson for a WR? We now have 3players left to play 2positions(RB/FB), but have 5 WRs and 4TEs, 2 of them being hybrid WRs anyway. All that with no depth at CB. Incredibly smart. This move will look even dumber when you'll see Gurley on the inactives list and our ineptitude to Return kicks, where Johnson was better than anyone else on the roster.
#gmstrong
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I've been pimping Gurley. Nice to see him activated to active roster. Appears he'll be a piece in the Gordon fill-in situation.
Looks like the staff prefers Rainey at RB... wonder if he'll take any reps in tomorrow's game?
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I feel more comfortable with 5 receivers and 3 RB on the active roster than 4 RB and 4 RB.
It would nto surprise me at all to see Rainey return kicks tomorrow. I would guess that when we get Lauvao back to health that we will cut down the number of OL we carry, and add another DB, and probably bring in another RB as well.
Micah 6:8; He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.
John 14:19 Jesus said: Because I live, you also will live.
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I hope we start to kick the tires on a few more RB's. With one listed as a fullback, isee the position as needing a little more depth
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I would suspect that we will. We probably won't keep more than a total of 3 RB/FB active on gamedays ..... but once we get healthy up front again, I can see us bringing in another DB and RB.
Micah 6:8; He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.
John 14:19 Jesus said: Because I live, you also will live.
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As far as blaming Lombardi for the chaos at the bottom of the roster, Im pretty sure that these decisions where talked thru greatly with Chud, Norv, the WR coach and the RB coach. There is no way these decisions are not made without talking to those guys. Cutting Johnson, which was basically a tryout for him and Rainey this week, was made by the coaches, not the GM.
I would like to think Lombardi is leaving decisions like that to the coaches while he is evaluating college and looking at tape of other teams PS guys to fill the bottom of the Browns roster. The coaches tell him the teams weaknesses and what they are looking for, and every day, he is making the evaluations to fill those weaknesses. This way, the Browns coaches just coach the players they do have for this weeks opponent.
As much as I don't like the depth and that they didn't upgrade at Guard and CB, the depth at RB is not the coaching staffs or the GMs fault. Everyone, including the fans, thought the Browns were set before the injuries to Hardesty and Lewis. I never liked the Hardesty pick, especially trading up to get a RB with knee issues that I never really heard of at Tennessee, but he did hit the holes in his limited time last year. And Lewis looked like a steal in camp. When 2 guys go down at one position that most thought would be on the 53 man roster, the Browns had to scramble.
Hardesty wont be brought back. That's a given. What a waste (not his fault) of 2 draft picks. Lewis was a heck of a find but I still see the Browns really need a #2 RB, even with Lewis coming back next year. Unless they trade for one, the #2 wont be found this season.
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Did they replace Gurleys spot on the PS? Im hoping its CB Auguste. I liked what I saw of him and Im hoping the staff liked him so they have some kind of plan with their CB depth. Im guessing that they didn't like him too much since he wasn't originally brought back.
Im still a little upset that they let Mathieu get picked one pick behind McFadden. Mathieu will have a much, much better career.
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Since Ray Farmer is director of pro personnel, I would assume that he has input into free agents as well.
I truly believe that this front office wanted to take a look at the players they had within the framework of the new offense and defense, and thus far they are fairly happy with most of the starters, (at this point in their development) and some of the primary backups, but are going to turn over 8-12 spots for the entire season. Some of those players they are happy with right now could play themselves out of a spot, and maybe another guy might play himself into a spot.
This season is going to come down to injuries, in large part. I think that we can have a solid season if we stay healthy, but if we continue to lose starters, just like any other team, we'll be in trouble. We have largely solid starters, and a few decent backups, but lack depth overall.If out depth is tested, I suspect that we'll struggle to win many games.
Micah 6:8; He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.
John 14:19 Jesus said: Because I live, you also will live.
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Yeah, his Kick-off return average in college was a whopping 23.4 yds per return, while Benjamin averaged a paltry 23.2 yds per return. Two-tenths of a yard is SIMPLY HUGE. And never mind that Benjamin is much faster. You don't really want fast guys as your kick-off returners. Speed is almost a liability at that position.
Furthermore, we are ONLY going to use 2 receiver packages and run the wishbone on offense---which needs 3 backs on every down.
And, it's really dumb to cut a guy who has a very similar skill set to Rainey and to actually try to replace the big-bodied Gordon w/a big-bodied Gurley FOR THE FIRST TWO WEEKS.
What a joke this FO is.
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1. Benjamin won't be used as KR, because he wouldn't last 5 returns and is too soft a player for that. 2. Johnson isn't a good KR, but still a better option than Bademosi. We have the worst KR "depth chart" in the entire NFL after being used to have top 5 performances there for the past seasons. Expect a good 5yds worse starting field position AVG from this downgrade this season and overall getting killed there due to our punter/kicker situation. 3. We have 3 players for 2 starting positions on the roster (Obi/TRIch/Rainey for FB/RB). Yes or no? This is unacceptable and way too thin. We have 9 players for WR/TE, where you won't line up more than 5/6 on snaps, mostly 4 though. 7 players for OLB, where only 2 will be on the field at the same time and 4 CBs, where you need 3 on the field 60% of the time. If you think that's smart, cool. I think it's stupid and it's not like we're mid-season. This is game one with plenty of time to "plan" a roster setup. It's like they're asking to be left one dimensional in-game when an injury occurs at those positions. If a CB or RB goes down, we're pretty much asking the other guys to play EVERY snap and/or lined up where they haven't before. 4. Gurley as Gordon replacement? lol Nice reach and way off. If they think he can be, then why wasn't he added BEFORE the practice week ended, doh? Either they're clueless or it's not the plan. I'll give them the benefit of the doubt and say he's just a body. I even think he'll be in-active or maybe he's a better ST than one of the plethora of UDFA rooks and play there, but I don't see him getting any meaningful Offense snaps. Why? He never was on the field with Weeden all week and probably not even in TC, that's why. Yeah, Gordon-replacement. Now go get that egg off your face 
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Did they replace Gurleys spot on the PS
I still haven't heard of any moves yet. Figured such an announcement would have been made public by now.
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1) I do agree that Benjamin probably should not be used on KR. He's too small for that duty in my eyes. There's a difference between too small and too soft IMHO though. I feel that too soft is more of a work/attitude situation, while small is something that is just not controllable by the player. I think that Benjamin works hard, and is willing to do anything asked of him, and that makes him small, but not soft.
2) I suspect that we're going to see Rainey at KR ... if not today, then very soon.
3) I agree that 3 RB is too thin .....but I do feel that we need 5 WR, and 4 TE is not out of the ordinary for a guy like Norv who runs a lot of 2 TE formations. We are carrying 11 OL right now, which I feel is too heavy .... but with the 2 injuries at the Guard position, the coaches obviously feel that they need to stockpile extra bodies on the OL. I do feel that if you have to go thin at a position, relying on a young player, then RB is the position to do so. Pass protection could be a problem, but Rainey has practiced in this offense for the past year on the Ravens practice squad, and on their regular roster late last year. He should have the basics down by now. Plus, if we have to, we will flip Obi back to RB, and run a 2 TE offense. If we have to bring in another RB who knows the offense, we can always bring Jackson back. I do think that we're thing at RB but I don't see it as a dire situation.
4) I agree with you on this. Gurley is a 2 week emergency guy who may not even see the active list for the 1st 2 weeks, and who will probably go back on waivers/practice squad once Gordon is reinstated.
Micah 6:8; He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.
John 14:19 Jesus said: Because I live, you also will live.
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On my list of things I don't get - one of them is this message board's obsession with the bottom 10% of the roster.
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Maybe because as many injuries this team is experiencing, that "worthless depth" may become "useful products" if called upon. Just maybe anyway... 
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On my list of things I don't get - one of them is this message board's obsession with the bottom 10% of the roster.
Given the product we've seen on the field the last...oh 13+ years...my guess is we've become conditioned to watching the skills of those bottom 10% on the field every Sunday, thus making us subconsciously overly worried about those types of players.
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