Jack Duffin looks at the upcoming roster change and which players are on the bubble.
On the 27th of September during roster cutdowns Mike Hall was added to the Commissioner's exempt list which means he doesn't count on the 53 man roster and can't play games. While the length of time he is on that list is unknown he will most likely return to the 53 man roster at some stage, you would expect at the completion of the NFL's investigation they will settle on if he is suspended and the length of it.
In terms of the defensive tackle room this isn't too much of a concern, last season the rotation was Tomlinson plays 60% of snaps, the other three defensive tackles play 40% of snaps and then the fifth member of the position room is a game day inactive. This is probably why they didn't feel the need to keep Briggs or another defensive tackle on the 53 man roster and instead used the roster spot elsewhere.
When Mike Hall returns it will be interesting to see between him and Hurst who is the gameday inactive if they follow the plan from last year. There is a chance that Ika struggled so much last year that they didn't feel like making him active on game day and they will trend to a fifth defensive tackle active but we will need to see that before changing what is most likely.
The Cleveland Browns kept a fourth guard on the roster which is likely to be a player who is inactive on the game day roster. Cohen gets some extra time to impress in practice but he is certainly on the bubble. They will want to keep him around if they think he can be their third guard next season and allow Zinter to transition into being on of their two starters.
The Cleveland Browns kept six linebackers on the 53 man roster with Mohamoud Diabate and Tony Fields taking the depth spots on the roster. Where Tony Fields was injured for the majority of the preseason it is tough to know how he was looking. We know Schwartz trusted him more last season as he played 253 defensive snaps compared to Diabate's 26 last season.
The key thing to watch for in this position room is are either inactive for the first game of the season, if they are then I would make them the most likely to get the chop. If both are playing and contributing on special teams then the focus is very much on Cohen.
There is a fourth wildcard in Haliassie but I believe he has done enough and it makes sense to keep plenty of cornerback depth.
