Cleveland Browns Training Camp Battles To Watch (and Who Could Get Cut in the Process)

Very soon, training camps all around the NFL will open and position battles for roster spots will dominate the football landscape.

When it comes to the Cleveland Browns, the quarterback competition between Deshaun Watson and Shedeur Sanders is grabbing all the headlines, and rightfully so. For who knows how many years, the Browns are still searching for that elusive long term answer at the most important position in all of sports.

However, not all training camp battles involve such a high profile, and some of the most interesting ones don’t even involve starting jobs. Nonetheless, they usually end up determining who stays on the team and who gets cut, and those decisions carry important repercussions down the stretch.

Here’s a look at five positional battles to follow closely at Browns’ training camp in the following weeks:

Quarterback

Yes, the Watson vs. Sanders affair deserves most of our attention, as it will factor in heavily how Todd Monken’s season goes in his first jab as an NFL head coach.

But finding out who could be third on the depth chart, or even second, will also be interesting. Dillon Gabriel, a third-rounder from last year should have the upper-hand over sixth-round rookie Taylen Green, but Green is this coaching staff’s project, unlike Gabriel.

Green has enough athletic upside, where trying to stash him on the practice squad may be risking him to another team, whereas Gabriel might already have shown his ceiling as an NFL player. Then again, if those Sanders trade rumors are true, both Gabriel and Green could stay on board.

Wide receiver

Most likely, the top four wideouts are set with veteran Jerry Jeudy joined by rookies KC Concepcion and Denzel Boston, along with offseason standout Isaiah Bond. The remaining two or three spots on the active roster will come down to who comes out on top among Cedric Tillman, Malachi Corley, Jamari Thrash, Gage Larvadain and Tylan Wallace. The return game will play a role here, possibly giving an edge to Larvadain, Corley and Wallace.

Keep in mind, having an actual surplus of bodies in this room doesn’t automatically qualify this group as a deep one.

Tight end

Harold Fannin Jr. rules here as the undisputed starter, but the rest of the hierarchy is still to be determined. Among the contenders for three other spots, likely, there’s blocking specialist Jack Stoll, picked up in free agency, a couple of late round draft picks in Joe Royer and Ryan Carsen, and Blake Whiteheart, a holdover from last season with limited playing time to his name.

Multiple tight end sets are a must in the modern NFL landscape, and this will be especially true if the Browns decide against keeping fullback Michael Burton when the final cuts arrive. Any tight end who ends up on the outside when the roster goes down to 53 will probably find his way to the practice squad.

Center

This position battle is the second most important one on the Browns roster.

The Browns would love if veteran Luke Wypler -- who suffered a severe knee injury during the last game of last season -- or late round rookie Parker Brailsford to step up and own the starting gig, leaving free agency addition Elgton Jenkins to play his preferred spot as one of the guards, opposite fellow free agent Zion Johnson.

If Wypler or Brailsford aren’t up to the task, then Jenkins will move to center, where he shined in the past for Green Bay, leaving the guard slot for returnee Teven Jenkins. While this latter configuration could mean lining up with the team’s best five players -- along with projected starting tackles Spencer Fano and Tytus Howard -- it also means having Elgton Jenkins lining up outside of his best spot.

Safety

Emmanuel McNeil-Warren, the Browns second pick in the second round last April, had been projected by many as a first round talent. This means the expectations are already quite elevated for the Toledo product, who could see a lot of action playing in the slot in Big Nickel formations.

However, there’s also been a lot of rumors suggesting starting safety Grant Delpit could be on the move via trade, which would leave McNeil-Warren as one of the two nominal starters alongside Ronnie Hickman, another player who has also been singled out as a potential trade target.

Even if Delpit and Hickman stay, McNeil-Warren should have no problem competing for a starting job on the backend.

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