Assessing the Browns’ roster heading into Week 1
The Browns announced their initial 53-man roster on Aug. 26 and then put together their 16-man practice squad. With the roster created, Assistant General Manager and Vice President of Football Operations Catherine Hickman highlighted the work that their staff put in throughout the offseason to build out their roster.
“We have a great opportunity, starting Week 1, to win football games,” Hickman said. “And I feel very, very proud of all the work that we’ve done in the offseason between personnel and coaching.”
The roster features a total of 12 rookies, from their six draft picks to undrafted free agents signed in the offseason, sprinkled in across position groups on both sides of the ball. Hickman noted having youth on the roster is critical in the process of roster building.
“It’s credit to these young players – they’ve made the most of their opportunities, and they’ve earned their spot,” Hickman said. “Our coaches aren’t teachers. They’re developers. And that’s a credit to how Kevin (Stefanski) builds his staff. And then we have a pretty robust player development group and program that works very closely with the coaches to help the players develop both on and off the field. And that’s something we take great pride in, and we’re very intentional in how we build about it. Now, is it a challenge? Absolutely. But I would revert back to saying these young men have really earned their spot and they made it an easy decision for us to make.”
Two of those young rookies are in the quarterback room with Dillon Gabriel and Shedeur Sanders. Each earned playing time during the preseason to gain necessary game experience in the NFL setting and were a part of the four-man quarterback competition. Gabriel is now set to serve as the backup quarterback behind Joe Flacco, while Sanders will be the emergency quarterback in Week 1 against the Bengals.
Since Gabriel has arrived at CrossCountry Mortgage Campus, Hickman has been impressed both on and off the field.
“Extremely mature, professional,” Hickman said of Gabriel. “He has a process and how he goes about his craft, and it shows. There’s a lot to work as you enter this league as a young quarterback, but Dillon (Gabriel) has really put the time in and worked with the coaches. So, I really look forward to seeing his trajectory and how he collaborates with both our coaches and (player development) staff.”
Hickman has seen similar traits in Sanders over the course of the offseason and throughout training camp.
“He has worked at his craft, he’s passionate, he’s dedicated to it,” Hickman said of Sanders. “He puts the time in, and those are really the things that you can really hang your hat on when it comes to these young players. And then he’s shown growth. He’s shown growth on the field. Again, it’s a super small sample size, so we got to continue to be intentional with his plan and work with him, just like we will do with every rookie.”