The competition between rookie Browns QB Brandon Weeden and Colt McCoy never happened. And now one must wonder if a battle between McCoy and Seneca Wallace for the backup spot ever took place either. McCoy was the second QB throughout the preseason and is left standing after Wallace was waived on Friday. McCoy did outplay Wallace until the latter engineered an impressive touchdown drive Thursday night against the Eagles. But the die was obviously already cast.
Notable cuts: QB Seneca Wallace (10th year, Iowa State) -- Wallace had little chance. He was outplayed by McCoy most of camp and owned a bigger contract. Coach Pat Shurmur likes Thaddeus Lewis, with whom he worked in St. Louis. ... TE Evan Moore (4th year, Stanford) -- The 2011 contract extension proved meaningless. Moore simply didn’t block well enough to stick. Shurmur prefers Alex Smith, who is a decent pass-catcher and a far superior blocker. Young Jordan Cameron fills the need for an offensive-minded TE. … DL Brian Schaefering (3rd year, Lindenwood) -- Rookie linemen Billy Winn and John Hughes performed well enough in camp and in the preseason to push out Schaefering, who found himself playing with the third team. … RB Brad Smelley (rookie, 7th round, Alabama) -- When Moore was waived, it appeared Smelley had a shot. But Shurmur prefers the blocking talents of Owen Marecic to the pass-catching talents of Smelley, who struggled early in the preseason as a blocker, but was making strides.
Complete cut list
OL Dominic Alford (2nd year, undrafted, Minnesota); DT Ronnie Cameron (rookie, undrafted, Old Dominion); WR Josh Cooper (rookie, undrafted Oklahoma State); OL Stanley Daniels (3rd year, undrafted, Washington); CB James Dockery (2nd year, undrafted, Oregon State); OL Garth Gerhart (rookie, undrafted, Arizona State); DL William Green (rookie, undrafted, Florida); TE Dan Gronkowski (3rd year, undrafted, Maryland); LB Benjamin Jacobs (2nd year, undrafted, Fresno State); DL Ernest Owusu (rookie, undrafted, California); OL Jarrod Shaw (2nd year, undrafted, Tennessee); OL Jeff Shugarts (rookie, undrafted, Ohio State); LB Quinton Spears (3rd year, undrafted, Prairie View A&M); RB Adonis Thomas (rookie, undrafted, Toledo); DL Kiante Tripp (3rd year, undrafted, Georgia); WR Rod Windsor (2nd year, undrafted, Western New Mexico)
Other moves: Traded -- FS David Sims (2nd year, undrafted, Iowa State) to Eagles for 2013 conditional draft pick.
Stay dialed in on the Cleveland Browns on Twitter at @CBSSportsNFLCLE throughout the season with on-site updates from CBSSports.com RapidReports correspondent Marty Gitlin.