BEREA, Ohio (92.3 The Fan) – The Browns could be down to their third left tackle for Sunday’s game against the Houston Texans.
Starting left tackle Jedrick Wills Jr. missed his third straight practice due to an ankle injury and his backup, Chris Hubbard, has been ruled out with a triceps injury.
“We have a plan,” head coach Kevin Stefanski said following Friday’s practice. “We'll see how it goes over the next few hours to see how Jed responds, and then if he can't make it to the game, we have a plan.”
Wills worked on the side while Hubbard was not seen during the portion of practice open to reporters Friday morning.
Wills suffered the ankle injury while blocking on Jarvis Landry’s touchdown run in the second quarter at Kansas City.
It is unclear when specifically Hubbard suffered his injury against the Chiefs.
Offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt said Thursday that rookie James Hudson III was being prepared to play should Wills and Hubbard be unavailable.
Delpit’s debut – Safety Grant Delpit is on track to make his Browns debut against the Texans.
Delpit, a 2020 second round pick, lost his rookie season after rupturing his Achilles during training camp last year and a pair of hamstring injuries held him back during camp and at the outset of the season this year.
Although Delpit was limited Wednesday and Thursday in practice, Stefanski feels like the former LSU standout is ready to roll.
“I think we brought him back on a pitch count throughout the week and then did more and more and did a nice job,” Stefanski said. “He’s locked in mentally and looking forward to getting him out there.”
No excuses – A day after special teams coordinator Mike Priefer expressed confidence in him, punter Jamie Gillan offered no excuses for the dropped snap on a punt in Kansas City that gave the Chiefs the ball at the 15 yard line and allowed them to take the lead for good shortly after.
“I just dropped it. Massive mistake. I cost that game,” Gillan said. “The whole point of my position is to be a weapon and to help out the team and obviously there I didn’t. But things happen, right? And that hasn’t changed my outlook in practice or anything. I’m still this happy-go-lucky-likes-a-pint-or-two person.
“To be honest with you, I’m really happy this happened in Week 1, you’re trying to find a silver lining in every cloud, right. And to me it’s a reset button, right? I can’t punt the ball without catching it, so I better catch it next time.”
Priefer indicated that Gillan, who said he apologized to Priefer for the gaffe, had time to punt the ball despite the drop, and Gillan agreed.
“I kind of panicked a little bit and took off running,” Gillan said, “which now that that’s happened if that error happens again, punt it off, right, because it was only a six-man box and I had plenty of time. It was just a massive mistake for myself and I’m sorry.”
Eye on the prize – The Browns, who are celebrating their 75th anniversary this season, are one of four teams to have never made it to a Super Bowl let alone won one but this year’s team is thought to have the best chance to do both.
Defensive end Myles Garrett, who suffered through 0-16 as a rookie, was asked about the older fans who are clinging to the 1964 NFL championship while they wait for their first Vince Lombardi Trophy.
“I’m not going to try to mock anything the ’64 team did, but they always put us up there as a team that has no Super Bowls,” Garrett said. “I recognize we have titles and I appreciate what those guys did, but they left a legacy for us. When you look up at our banners, we don’t have any Super Bowls.
“I’m not worried about the past, I’m worried about right now and that’s this week and being 1-1. We’re trying to get on the road to do something we’ve never done. They’ve had their time, they’ve had their legacy. The old guys keep on living in the past and talking about that while we’re trying to march down and do something we’ve never done before.”
Often forgotten because of the Super Bowl era, the Browns won four NFL championships: 1950, 1954–55 and 1964 and eight overall if you include the four AAFC titles from 1946-1949. They've not played for all the marbles since losing to the Packers in the 1965 NFL championship game.
Injury report – OUT: WR Odell Beckham Jr. (knee), OT Chris Hubbard (triceps); QUESTIONABLE: LT Jedrick Wills (ankle), C J.C. Tretter (knee), CB Troy Hill (hamstring), WR Anthony Schwartz (knee), G Michael Dunn (back); EXPECTED TO PLAY: DT Tommy Togiai (illness), RT Jack Conklin (knee), S Grant Delpit (hamstring), CB Greg Newsome (biceps), LB Mack Wilson (quad), LB Anthony Walker (hamstring)
Up next – Texans at Browns, Sunday 1:05 p.m.