Cleveland Browns set 53-man roster on 2024 NFL cut day: See the team

BEREA — Dorian Thompson-Robinson or Tyler Huntley? Jamari Thrash or Michael Woods II? Myles Harden or Justin Hardee Sr.?

Those were just a few of the questions the Browns were faced with as they stared down the 4 p.m. deadline Tuesday to get to the initial 53-man roster. They weren't the only ones they were tasked with making, but on a roster that felt —when healthy — mostly set, they were the ones that stood out.

It's the first-world problems of being a team that has a veteran-laden core that some of the biggest questions involved the No. 3 quarterback, the No. 6 wide receiver or the No. 6 cornerback. Those questions also involved some of the players who had, at the very least, had strong preseasons, thus making their inclusion worthy of a discussion.

"You could probably just rewind what I said last year at this time," head coach Kevin Stefanski said Tuesday after practice. "It's the first 53, it's not the final 53, so I'm sure there's moves to be made down the line here. I don't envy (general manager) Andrew (Berry) these days, because this is some tough decisions to make. H's got a plan and we'll work through it.

The initial 53-man roster figures to be the roster for only about 18 hours or so. The Browns will find out at noon Wednesday if they will be awarded any of their waiver claims, and other moves will be made between now and the Sept. 8 opener against the Dallas Cowboys.

The biggest surprise? At least for the time being, the Browns aren't choosing between Thompson-Robinson and Huntley, and will instead go with four quarterbacks on the roster, along with Deshaun Watson and Jameis Winston.

"Yeah, we have four good quarterbacks," Stefanski said. "Simply."

Stefanski did dodge the question about the long-term plans for that position group. Watson, obviously, is the established starter.

After that, the Browns may be open for business if another team wants to trade for Winston, Thompson-Robinson or, particularly, Huntley. That's somethin that could materialize before the opener.

"We'll see," Stefanski said. "I can speak for today. What's today?"

The least-surprising cut? Last year's third-round defensive tackle Siaki Ika.

Ika, the No, 99 overall player taken last year, was inactive for the first 13 games of his rookie season and could never establish a foothold within the defensive tackle rotation in his second training camp.

For the initial roster, the Browns stuck with the younger home-grown talent where there were key battles. The biggest of those, despite the marquee nature of the quarterback position, may have come at wide receiver with Thrash edging out Woods to remain on the roster.

Thrash, the 23-year-old rookie fifth-round pick out of the University of Louisville, became one of the young camp stars over the second half of training camp. He finished the preseason with 10 catches for 141 yards and a touchdown.

“I’ve always been like that," Thrash said after the preseason finale in Seattle. "I’ve always kind of been the underdog. I always just try to play my own game and just be me.”

It was seen as a potential either/or situation with Woods, the 2022 sixth-round pick who was coming back from missing all of last season with an Achilles injury. He looked to make one last push in Seattle with five catches for 53 yards and two touchdowns, but the fact he was making most of those in the fourth quarter while Thrash was starting the games should've provided the clues needed as to which way it was heading.

Thrash was one of five rookies to make the initial team, although a sixth rookie — second-round pick Mike Hall Jr. — will start on the Commissioner's Exempt list due to his Aug. 13 domestic violence arrest. Offensive lineman Javion Cohen was the only one of the rookies to make it after being an undrafted free agent.

Stefanski declined comment on Hall's situation.

Another of those rookies, cornerback Myles Harden, beat out a pair of veterans in Hardee and Tony Brown II to earn a spot. The sixth-round pick out of FCS Division I South Dakota rode a strong camp to make the roster.

"It's an incredible accomplishment to make any NFL roster for all of our guys," Stefanski said. "This is a competitive roster, there's a lot of competitive rosters out there, so to be able to make it, it is a big deal and excited for those guys. That's also only half the battle for these young players. They need to carve out a role. They need to continue to work, need to get better, but I don't want to dismiss it. It's a great accomplishment for those guys.

Hardee and Brown were far from the only veterans who were mild surprises not to make the roster. Running back D'Onta Foreman also had his contract terminated, which left the Browns with just two running backs on the active roster.

The Browns left running backs Nick Chubb (physically unable to perform) and Nyheim Hines (non-football injury) on their respective injury lists. Offensive lineman Michael Dunn was also placed on the NFI, although he was designated for return.

Cleveland Browns' initial 53-man roster

(Players listed alphabetically)

Cleveland Browns quarterbacks (4):

Tyler Huntley, Dorian Thompson-Robinson, Deshaun Watson, Jameis Winston

Cleveland Browns running backs (2):

Jerome Ford, Pierre Strong Jr.

Cleveland Browns wide receivers (6):

David Bell, Amari Cooper, Jerry Jeudy, Elijah Moore, Jamari Thrash, Cedric Tillman

Cleveland Browns tight ends (2):

Jordan Akins, David Njoku

Cleveland Browns offensive linemen (10):

Joel Bitonio, Jack Conklin, Javion Cohen, Nick Harris, James Hudson III, Dawand Jones, Ethan Pocic, Wyatt Teller, Jedrick Wills Jr., Zak Zinter

Cleveland Browns defensive linemen (9):

Myles Garrett, Shelby Harris, Maurice Hurst II, Quenton Jefferson, Isaiah McGuire, Ogbo Okoronkwo, Za’Darius Smith, Dalvin Tomlinson, Alex Wright

Cleveland Browns linebackers (6):

Devin Bush, Mohamoud Diabate, Tony Fields II, Jordan Hicks, Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah, Nathaniel Watson

Cleveland Browns defensive backs (11):

D’Anthony Bell, Grant Delpit, Martin Emerson Jr., Kahlef Hailassie, Myles Harden, Ronnie Hickman, Rodney McLeod, Cameron Mitchell, Greg Newsome II, Juan Thornhill, Denzel Ward

Cleveland Browns specialists (3):

Corey Bojorquez, Dustin Hopkins, Charley Hughlett

Cleveland Browns players on injury/Commissioner's Exempt lists

Reserve/non-football injury (2):

G Michael Dunn (designated for return), RB Nyheim Hines

Reserve/physically unable to perform list (1):

RB Nick Chubb

Reserve/injured (1):

C Luke Wypler

Exempt/Commissioner permission (1):

DT Michael Hall Jr.

Chris Easterling can be reached at ceasterling@thebeaconjournal.com. Read more about the Browns at www.beaconjournal.com/sports/browns. Follow him on X at @ceasterlingABJ

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Browns 2024 roster set: See the full 53-man NFL team