The Browns have released 25-year old RB Armond Smith.  Smith played in 3 games for the Browns this year and he had 3 carries for 2 yards (0.7 ypc).  He also had 1 tackle this year for the Browns.  Smith had a solid pre-season for the Browns which helped him make the team, but that is where the magic stopped.  Chris Ogbonnaya’s recent signing doomed Smith.

UPDATE:  (10/21/2011) – Smith has cleared waivers and the Browns have re-signed him to the practice squad.

The Browns have signed 25-year old RB Chris Ogbonnaya off the Houston Texans’ practice squad.  Ogbonnaya has played in 2 games (0 starts) for the Texans this year and he has 3 carries for 6 yards (2.0 ypc).  He has now played in 4 games in his first two years in the NFL and he has carried the ball 14 times for 56 yards (4.0 ypc).  He has also caught 1 pass for 19 yards so far in his NFL career.  This move likely means that Peyton Hillis is going to miss some time due to his hamstring injury.

26-year old DE/OLB Marcus Benard was riding his motorcycle home after practice yesterday when he was involved in an accident.  He wound up breaking a hand in the accident.  No other details have been released about when he will return to action or if he suffered any other injuries.  Benard has played in 4 games for the Browns so far this year and he has 3 tackles and 1/2 a sack.  Benard has now played in 25 games in his first three years with the Browns and he has 45 tackles, 11.5 sacks, 2 passes defensed and 1 tackle for a loss.  The Browns are hoping that Benard won’t miss too much P.T. as he is a solid pass rusher.

UPDATE:  (10/12/2011) – The Browns have placed Marcus Benard on the non-football injury list and he is officially done for the season.

The Cleveland Browns have extended 27-year old OLB Chris Gocong’s contract for three more years worth $16.8 million bucks.  Gocong has played in all 3 games for the Browns so far this year and he has 9 tackles, 1 tackle for a loss and 1 pass defensed.  He has now played in 19 games in his first two years with the Browns and he has 84 tackles, 5 tackles for a loss, 2.5 sacks, 1 forced fumble, 1 fumble recovery and 4 passes defensed.  It was smart of the Browns to lock up Gocong as he has played well for them so far in his career.

The Cleveland Browns have placed 28-year old punter Richmond McGee on the Injured Reserve List due to a back injury.  McGee played in the season opener for the Browns against the Bengals and he punted the ball 8 times for 288 yards (36.0 avg).  He also had 1 touchback (12.5%) and he didn’t pin the Bengals inside their own 20-yard line even once.  This is not a big loss for the Cleveland Browns as McGee was horrible in the season opener as he was shanking punts left and right.

The Cleveland Browns have signed 37-year old punter Brad Maynard.  Maynard played in all 16 games for the Bears last year and he punted the ball 83 times for 3,326 yards (40.1 avg).  He also had only 6 touchbacks (6%) and pinned the opposition inside their own 20-yard line 24 times (28.9%) last year.  Maynard has now played in 223 games in his first 14 years in the NFL and he has punted the ball 1,258 times for 52,739 yards (41.9 avg).  Maynard also has 99 touchbacks (7.9%) and he has pinned the opposing team inside their own 20-yard line 407 times (32.4%) in his NFL career so far.  Maynard should be a huge improvement over Richmond McGee.

The Browns have signed 32-year old G/T Artie Hicks.  Hicks played in 15 games (10 starts) for the Redskins last year.  He has now played in 109 games (68 starts) in his first 9 years in the NFL.  This was a good pickup for the Browns because Hicks can play both guard and tackle.  Don’t be surprised if he’s starting at some point in 2011.

The Browns have claimed 23-year old QB Thaddeus Lewis off waivers from the Rams.  Lewis played in all 4 preseason games for the Rams and he completed 23 of 32 passes (71.9%) for 263 yards with 0 TD passes and 0 INTs (96.6 QB Rating).  He also carried the ball 7 times for 30 yards (4.3 ypc) in the preseason for the Rams.  Lewis has yet to play in a regular season game in his NFL career.  He was claimed because head coach Pat Shurmur was Lewis’ offensive coordinator last year with the Rams and he knows the system.  Lewis will be the Browns’ #3 QB in 2011, behind Colt McCoy and Seneca Wallace.

The Browns have claimed 24-year old DE Emmanuel Stephens off waivers from the Falcons and 23-year old LB Quinton Spears from the Dolphins.  Stephens played in all 4 preseason games for the Falcons and he had 9 tackles and 1 sack.  Spears is an undrafted rookie out to tiny Prarie View A&M.  He played in all 4 preseason games for the Dolphins and he had 1 tackle and 1 pass defensed.  The Browns are just going to take a look at Stephens and Spears and see if they have what it takes to play in the NFL.  If they can’t, then the Browns will just cut them loose.

The Browns have lost 31-year old starting RG Eric Steinbach for the entire 2011 season due to surgery to repair a herniated disc in his back.  Steinbach played in 16 games (all starts) for the Browns last year.  He has played in 62 games (all starts) in his first four years with the Browns as he was a very dependable and solid player.  Rookie 5th round pick Jason Pinkston looks like he will be the starting left guard for the Browns in 2011.  Hopefully, LT Joe Thomas and C Alex Mack will be able to help Pinkston on the left side.