It’s been a hectic day of injury news for the Cleveland Browns, with the news that QB Deshaun Watson will miss the season due to shoulder surgery. In addition, OT Dawand Jones, who missed Week 10’s win over the Baltimore Ravens with a knee injury, OG Wyatt Teller (ankle), S Juan Thornhill (calf) and WR Marquise Goodwin missed practice due to injury today.
The Browns also had numerous players get rest days for the first day of practice, including WR Amari Cooper, who’s also battling an ankle injury. OG Joel Bitonio, DE Za’Darius Smith, S Rodney McCleod and LB Anthony Walker Jr also got rest days. TE David Njoku was also listed as off for a rest day, but also had a knee injury listed. S Grant Delpit did not practice either due to rest and also a shoulder injury. While some of the players who were listed off for rest are also dealing with other ailments, there’s no reason to think those should impact their availability for Sunday.
CB Denzel Ward (neck) practiced in a limited capacity, as did DE Alex Wright (knee). WR David Bell (knee) was also limited, as was CB Greg Newsome II (groin). DE Ogbo Okoronkwo also was limited with a groin injury.
Two players practiced in full, and they were OG Michael Dunn, whose 21-day window to be activated off IR was opened today, as well as RB Pierre Strong Jr. (hamstring).
That’s obviously quite the lengthy injury report for Cleveland, but the loss of Watson is the biggest news of the day. We’ll see how the week shakes out in terms of participation for the whopping 18 names listed among the initial injury report, but there’s little doubt that the Browns will enter Sunday’s game a bit banged up.
For Pittsburgh, seven players failed to practice, including safety Minkah Fitzpatrick, who has missed the last two games with a groin injury. It’ll be worth monitoring to see if Fitzpatrick and DL Montravius Adams will get healthy enough to see the field against Cleveland on Sunday.
