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With Braylon Edwards tending to his stitches over the next couple of weeks, the Browns will have to decide what they will do with the vacated starting receiver slot for at least two preseason games.  This Monday night against the Giants will be the first challenge, as the Browns lock up with the defending champs.

The wide receiver battle is one of more intense of this year’s camp – which is not necessarily a bad thing given that all of the other positions are locked down.  But as Andre Knott mentioned, whomever starts this week, you would have to assume that they have a “leg up” on the rest of the competition.  But who will get the nod?

The current depth chart, at least per RotoWorld, has the WR1 slot as follows:

1- Braylon Edwards
2- Joe Jurevicius
3- Steve Sanders
4- Kevin Kasper
5- Efrem Hill

Now, obviously both “1″ and “2″ can be crossed off of the list due to injuries.  Jurevicius likely won’t be back with us until week seven at the earliest.  Thus, if we go by the list above, we could be looking at #83 in the starting slot.  If you had the chance to watch Sanders at all during camp, you shouldn’t have been disappointed.  The only downside is, he’s more of a possession, big body type.  So many of the plays that would likely be drawn up for Edwards (the longer, simply beat the DB routes) may have to be adjusted a bit for the hands and size of Sanders.

For an added bonus, Sanders was running with the first team this past week and reports had him catching everything that was thrown in his direction.

But what about Travis Wilson?  Josh Cribbs?  Syndric Steptoe? 

Let’s just go ahead and cross Steptoe off of the list.  The few times I saw him at camp, he failed to impress.  The interception off of Brady Quinn against the Jets went off of his hands.  I’ll go on record to say that he is too small, and there is entirely too much competition on this team for him to succeed.  Perhaps he could wind up on another team like Jacksonville (a la Northcutt), but just not here.

Marla Ridenour seemed a bit surprised that Sanders was given the chance that I mentioned above, and feels that the team could in fact be blackballing Travis Wilson.  Joe J is the listed back-up, and Sanders is more “Joe J” than any of our other options. To me, I think promoting Sanders was the right thing to do given his skill set coupled with the fact that the third-receiver role seems to be a two-man race between Wilson and Joshua Cribbs.  In fact, I would almost go out on a limb to say that the team has already decided on Wilson as their slot man, with Cribbs coming in on (more) sporadic downs to shake things up. 

Wilson has progressed at an unexpected rate this year.  Sure, third year receivers tend to break out more than others, but nearly everyone had Wilson written off after the Donte Stallworth signing.  But since he has done so well in the slot, why force him to learn a whole new set of plays? 

Don’t forget that other teams are forced to adjust their defense every time Cribbs steps on the field.  The occasional decoy isn’t a bad idea, but if using Cribbs on offense burns him out for his special teams roles, you’re shooting yourself in the foot.  No pun intended.  As Chris Pokorny wrote not long ago, it took Wilson three years to learn the third-receiver role.  Why ruin a good thing?

The “others” appear to be the abovementioned Kasper, and Hill along with rookie Paul Hubbard.  Unless Hubbard starts performing miracles out there, it seems that he could be on the Travis Wilson path.  Kasper was a feelgood story until his injury.  Hill reportedly looks clueless each time he steps on the field.  I do not know enough about Hill to speculate on his future, but Hubbard definitely appears to be more of a project at this point – which is a shame given his size.

Assuming Sanders gets the nod, pay special attention to his ability to create space with Derek Anderson under center.  The offensive line should allow him more time to work, and given Anderson’s knack for throwing to his right, Sanders should see plenty of work.  He was about a foot shy of pay dirt against the Jets.  Here’s to hoping that the former Bowling Green receiver gets the shot to find the zone once again.