Jaelen Strong’s somewhat surprising release on Monday raised a lot of eyebrows around Cleveland and with fans on social media. Strong had been repeatedly praised all summer for playing well and appearing to earn a spot on the final 53-man roster despite a crowd of talent at wide receiver on the Browns.

Strong lost out in a numbers game, but there are larger reasons why he just couldn’t crack the lineup. The biggest of those is special teams.

Strong was going to be the No. 4 wideout for the Browns, at most. He was not challenging Odell Beckham Jr., Jarvis Landry or Rashard Higgins for playing time. Deeper reserves need to contribute on special teams to stay on the active roster. Strong had limited experience there despite being a veteran, and he wasn’t an indispensable asset there.

If Strong was set to be a gameday inactive every week — in part because of special teams — there is no real upside in keeping him over younger prospects Derrick Willies, Damion Ratley or even Damon Sheehy-Guiseppi. He might be a little better than those guys now at WR, but his injuries and age lead to a lower ceiling. He’s a known commodity at age 25, which doesn’t seem old. As Indiana Jones would say, “it’s the mileage.”

A bad drop in the preseason loss to the Buccaneers did not help, but that wasn’t likely more than a mitigating circumstance, not a reason for dumping him. While he did have a very good training camp, there were occasional bouts with balky hands, too.

The Browns did Strong a favor by releasing him before the throng of players gets put on the market on Saturday’s mandatory cutdown. It’s a class move and sign of respect for Strong’s effort all summer. He proved he belongs on an NFL roster in 2019. It just wasn’t meant to be the Browns roster.