Breaking down the Browns LB roster battle with after 2 preseason games
Linebacker is one of the positions where a critical battle is waging on the Cleveland Browns depth chart. The first two preseason games and training camp have helped provide some clarity, but the final two preseason contests will play a big role in determining which LBs wind up on the final 53-man roster.
First, the team has to decide if it’s keeping five or six LBs. With almost no game situation where more than two will be on the field in Steve Wilks’ defense, the Browns could keep just five. That puts extra pressure on the combatants behind the starters. I don’t see any conceivable way the team keeps more than six.
Speaking of the starters, Joe Schobert and Christian Kirksey are safe. It’s the spots behind them where the Browns are settling the order on the org chart.
The chances for the rest of the LBs, in descending order:
Mack Wilson
The fifth-round rookie from Alabama has been a standout in the pass defense all summer, making plays in practices, the Orange and Brown scrimmage and a tour de force performance in the preseason opener. His quick reactions and instant closing burst combineh with heady instincts in the passing game to make him game-ready to play in coverage situations, perhaps displacing one of the starters in obvious passing situations.
He’s a roster lock. However, the second preseason game highlighted where he needs to improve and why he was a perceived faller in the draft process. A strong showing in the final two preseason games would leave Wilson in line for serious playing time in the regular season.
Sione Takitaki
Cleveland’s third-round pick from BYU, Takitaki has made his living as a between-the-tackles run stuffer. Staying disciplined in his reads and pursuit angles have been an ongoing challenge, but there’s a lot to like with Takitaki. He might be the best blitzer on the team already. His intensity and willingness to mix things up are welcome additions.
A lingering hamstring injury probably keeps Takitaki from doing much early in the season. He’s a roster lock but a likely candidate to be a weekly inactive until he’s fully healthy.
Ray-Ray Armstrong
Armstrong was brought back for his special teams work, but he’s shown some upside and development in the run defense throughout the offseason workouts and preseason. Like Takitaki, he’s not afraid to get physical or instigate battles, something he did in the joint practices with the Colts.
Armstrong should be safe. Should be.
Adarius Taylor
Taylor is the last realistic option to make the team. If the Browns keep six LBs, he’s solidly in. Signed as a free agent with some importance this offseason, Taylor’s calling card is special teams. That’s an imperative quality for backup LBs.
The issue for Taylor is, well, he hasn’t been very good at playing linebacker in the actual defense in Cleveland. Everybody above him on the depth does one thing or another better than Taylor, and it makes it hard to find a role.
Taylor is likely safe, but he should probably rent and not buy his Cleveland residence.
Willie Harvey
Harvey lept off the practice tape in the OTAs. The undrafted rookie from Iowa State has had flashes of NFL ability interspersed throughout training camp and preseason, too. Harvey can play inside or outside and is something of a younger, greener version of Kirksey. They’re even about the same size.
Hard to see Harvey making the final 53, but he’s a player the Browns should consider themselves lucky to get through to the practice squad after the final cutdowns.
Anthony Stubbs
Stubbs has not had much of an opportunity in the preseason games, though he did down a punt on special teams vs. the Colts. In practices, he’s almost too easy to mistake for a running back. That has its positives; Stubbs is very quick and lithe in space, balanced and able to turn and run with backs and TEs in coverage well. But the undrafted rookie from Prairie View A&M is auditioning for the last spot on the practice squad. He may or may not make it there. He belongs on one somewhere in 2019, there’s something worth developing in Stubbs.
Dedrick Young
An undrafted rookie from Nebraska, Young has done little to stand out in training camp or the first two preseason games. He’s the most likely candidate on the entire roster to be dumped in favor of a new addition at any time.
Variable
Now if some team in dire need of LB help makes Dorsey an offer he can’t refuse for Kirksey or even Schobert— and that’s not a crazy concept — the strong first summers from rookies Takitaki and Wilson as well as newcomer Taylor make a trade something to consider. Stranger things have happened…
