“He did everything that he needed to do today,” head coach Hue Jackson said.
Taylor suffered the injury with just over 6 minutes remaining in the first quarter on a fourth-and-goal at the 1 when he rolled left and landed on his left hand and wrist falling out of bounds following an incomplete pass to receiver Jarvis Landry.
Taylor returned to the game after missing 2 series to finish the first half.
Jackson appreciates Taylor’s toughness.
“I think that is awesome,” Jackson said. “I think that is the way your quarterback has got to go about it. He is a tremendous competitor, a good leader as you said, an awesome leader. I think he wants to help this organization win. That is what you want from your quarterback.”
Jackson is considering having Zeitler play in the preseason finale against the Lions, depending on how the next few days go.
“I just want to see where he is,” Jackson said. “I would like to get him in a game before we play, but let’s see where he is. After practice today, let’s go in and see how the injury held up and all that stuff.”
Spender Drango has filled in during Zeitler’s absence, which combined with Joel Bitonio’s move to left tackle a few weeks ago threw the offensive line in flux.
Callaway did not appear limited during the portion of practice that was open to reporters.
“That is what we expected him to do,” Jackson said. “It was spasms in his back. I would suspect that he would be out there today.”
Ward was down for a few minutes as trainers attended to him and teammates took a knee around him, but he suffered back spasms and avoided serious injury.
With Antonio Callaway’s injury history and citation slip up plus Gordon’s inglorious history, the Browns can’t afford to count on either player, regardless of how much they are planning on both to provide a significant impact meaning adding depth at receiver isn’t a bad idea.
“It will never just be because of just those two,” Jackson said. “I know what you mean, but obviously, Antonio is out there today, and Josh is out there for a little bit. They both will be back very soon. I just think anytime we can improve our football team, we are going to look to do that. I think we have to. We owe that to our fans, to the organization to get this team to be the best it can be.”
The Browns hosted Dez Bryant for a visit over a week ago and there appears to be little progress on that front.
Jackson expects to keep at least 6 receivers on the final 53 and help could come via the waiver wire. Because of finishing with the league’s worst record last season, Cleveland will have priority on waiver claims for the first few weeks of the season.
“I am not going to say it depends on others,” Jackson said. “Obviously, we know Seth is a good football player and he can play. We just have to get him healthy. His health has been an issue. He has had to work through it. It is tough.
“How it is going to unfold at the end, we are going to keep the best 53 guys that we can, and I think that is what we have to do. However that shakes out, if he is part of that great; if he is not, it means we found somebody better.”
DeValve has missed the vast majority of training camp after suffering the initial injury on July 29. He returned briefly to practice before getting hurt again.