First Round of Cuts Arriving Soon

It's the time of year that all players in the NFL dread, cut week. Starting tomorrow and ending before Week 1 of the regular season the Browns' roster will be shrunk from 80 players to 75 and to the final total of 53. Let's take a look at my first five cuts as the Browns approach Week 4 of the preseason.

Jason Reda, K

Kicker cuts are rarely indicative of the quality of performance, rather a situation where a veteran is already in place and has done nothing to lose his job. This is the case with Reda, the Illinois product who has shown a strong leg on kickoffs and solid accuracy putting the ball between the posts. Phil Dawson is the Browns' man and this cut will give Reda a shot to latch on elsewhere in the NFL.

Brian Schaefering, DL

The big man from tiny Lindenwood College is an NFL success story to just make it this far but his time may be up. With the depth additions to the DL this offseason and the emergence of last year's draft picks Melila Purcell and Chase Pittmann and this year's rookie Atyba Rubin, his chances of making the 53 man roster are slim to none.

Kapanui Kolomona, TE

The man with the coolest name on the Cleveland Browns likely will not survive past Tuesday. It's not his fault, per se, but Kolomona has been injured all of camp and missed virtually all of late practices and preseason contests. Everyone knows of the depth of Browns tight ends and out of the group including Winslow, Heiden, Rucker, Dinkins and Brad Cieslak, Kolomona is likely the one to go.

Lance Leggett, WR

Another victim of depth at an offensive skill position, the large Miami U product has performed decently enough in training camp and limited preseason action. However, I think the Browns want to see more of Steve Sanders, Paul Hubbard and the oft-injured Kevin Kasper who have more of a shot of making the actual 53 man roster.

Travis Thomas, RB

The Golden Domer (seen above) has bounced from runningback to linebacker back to runningback in his college career. The fact that the 5th year senior has made it this far is testament in and of itself but I'm afraid his time may be up. Thomas has shown limited vision and speed in games and fellow UDFA RB Austin Scott of Penn State surpassed him on the depth chart for the last exhibition game against Detroit. This is likely the end of Thomas' NFL run.

What's next for these cuts? Practice squad is a possibility as I think of the bunch Schaefering and Leggett are most likely as is latching on with another NFL squad. Most likely however, these men will play a lower division of football or go into the real world. Whatever the case, I'm sure their time with the Browns will be one to remember for the rest of their lives.