Cleveland Browns WR Josh Lenz Making Strong Preseason Case to Stick on Roster

There weren't many bright spots in the Cleveland Browns' preseason finale 24-0 loss to the Chicago Bears—save one. Wide receiver Josh Lenz, who has been drawing rave reviews all summer long, was the team's biggest offensive standout of the night.

Lenz caught all four passes thrown his way, for 49 yards, including a long reception of 19 yards and two third-down conversions. The performance brings his preseason total to seven catches on seven targets for 108 yards, one catch of 20-plus yards and one of 40-plus. Also worth noting is that Lenz took a few reps in the Browns secondary on Thursday, as well.

Lenz's preseason would normally be enough to win him a spot on the 53-man roster for most teams. But the Browns are loaded at the position. Dwayne Bowe, Andrew Hawkins, Brian Hartline, Taylor Gabriel and Travis Benjamin seem like locks to make the final roster, while Marlon Moore could also be safe thanks to his special teams usefulness.

Even if Mike Pettine does choose to keep eight receivers on the Browns roster this year—something he said on Tuesday could be a possibility, per Hayden Grove of Scout.com—that still means that if those six receivers listed above do make the team, only two spare spots remain.

Lenz will have to prove he's more valuable than explosive returner Darius Jennings, has more upside than converted quarterback Terrelle Pryor and knows how to do his job better than rookie Vince Mayle in order to snag one of those rapidly dwindling spots.

While Jennings was pegged early on to be the come-out-of-nowhere receiver to make the Browns roster, as Gabriel did a year ago, Lenz has been the true rags-to-riches story of Cleveland's offseason.

	Tgts.	Rec.	Yds.	TD
vs. Bears	4	4	49	0
Total	7	7	108	0

That doesn't mean the Browns cannot or will not keep Jennings. But Lenz's performance has made it tough for the team to justify keeping Pryor, who made his preseason debut on Thursday and didn't see a single passing target, or for Mayle to take up a spot on the 53-man roster when the practice squad may better suit him.

One good sign for Lenz's chances to stick is that he only played in the first half of Thursday's game. The Browns coaching staff may have seen enough from him that his spot could be safe. Or, it could have simply been an opportunity for Lenz to get more reps on film in order to help him catch on elsewhere after Saturday's mandatory roster cuts.

But the Browns may have found themselves a sleeper playmaker in Lenz. And for an offense that is screaming out for playmakers, someone else may need to be sacrificed in favor of Lenz when the Browns have to make their decisions at receiver over the next two days.

Preseason or not, a receiver who can catch everything thrown his way is an asset to any offense. Hopefully the Browns recognize this and can carve out a roster spot for Lenz. He's earned it.