BEREA, Ohio (92.3 The Fan) – The Browns came out of the bye week relatively healthy but may have lost an emerging defensive role player during Thursday’s practice.
Here’s a few Brownie Bites from Friday.
Hall out – Rookie defensive tackle Mike Hall Jr. was ruled out Friday after suffering a knee injury during practice Thursday and he could be headed to injured reserve according to head coach Kevin Stefanski. “He's likely out for a period of time, but I don't have all the details just yet,” Stefanski said. In four games Hall totaled two QB hits and a tackle for loss. “He was providing some good plays for us, so disappointed but we'll see how it all shakes out,” Stefanski said. “But believe in this young man's going to be a good football player for us.” Hall missed the first five games of the season stemming from a suspension for violating the personal conduct policy related to a domestic incident at his home in August. “It's been a rough year for him and want to see him keep his head up and be positive throughout all of it,” defensive end Myles Garrett said. “Use that time to develop as a person, as a man and as a player knowing that these kind of things do happen, happen to are the greatest of players, but you have to continue to man on your path to be head up and keep working and it'll work out and it'll figure itself out for you.”
Returning to form – Garrett feet and Achilles injuries have calmed down to the point he is not listed on the injury report for the first time in weeks. “Things are getting better, but still something to address in the off season so I'm not looking too far into the future with all that,” Garrett said. Garrett’s improving health was pretty evident when he registered three sacks in four plays in the first half of a 27-10 loss to the Chargers. After the game Garrett’s phone blew up. “A couple of them thought I was going to break the record, so got to live up to that next time,” Garrett said. “Got to keep that going for the whole game.” The outburst broke a four-game sackless streak for the league’s reigning defensive player of the year, who revealed he had nine sacks in a game while in high school, giving him seven on the season. “It's a little different doing in the NFL for sure,” Garrett said. Garrett’s 95.5 career sacks are second-most in the NFL since he was drafted first overall in 2017. “I think with Myles being an elite rusher and he’s in a class, I’d say, all by himself,” Stefanski said. “Teams plan their whole game plan around him and when he makes those plays, that’s the truly incredible part because you know that teams are going into it saying, ‘We can’t let him wreck this game,’ and then for him to be able to do that. I think this season, as you’ve seen, and he’s getting healthier, I think that’s another big piece of this as well. We know what he’s capable of.”
Happy trails – Za’Darius Smith hasn’t been able to contain his excitement following being traded to Detroit. “I've never seen man smile so much,” Garrett said. “Going to a new place, my man was cheesing from ear to ear when he was on tv, but happy to see him feeling good, feeling like himself and being positive.” Smith is expected to make his Lions debut this weekend.
Filling shoes – Ogbo Okoronkwo and Isaiah McGuire are expected to be the top two players expected to fill the void left with the Smith trade. “We don't know who's starting,” Okoronkwo said. “We are just going out there and just trying to just practice well, make sure that we have our job sound. I mean, we are really sad because Z's a great player, very productive, but we got good guys and so we're excited about just the opportunity to just go show we can still be productive. We still missing Z, still following Z. But yeah, we're ready to go out there and play Sunday.”
Injury report – OUT: DT Mike Hall Jr. (knee)
