CLEVELAND, Ohio (92.3 The Fan) – A day after losing three offensive tackles to injury, there was a ray of good news sandwiched between some bad news.
Here’s the top Brownie Bites from Kevin Stefanski’s day after Zoom video conference.
Good and bad – Here’s the offensive tackle update from Stefanski: James Hudson is out for the week after he suffered an ankle injury “but he will be back soon,” Stefanski said. Hudson left the stadium in a walking boot. Germain Ifedi, who started at left tackle Saturday, “should be good to go,” according to Stefanski after a hand injury ended his afternoon. Hakeem Adeniji suffered a knee injury on the Tyler Huntley interception play that will keep him “out for a little bit,” Stefanski said. “I will highlight his effort on that play was unbelievable running down and those are types of things I thought you can teach off of those moments with your players. So his effort was unbelievable. Snoop Huntley throws an interception, is extremely disappointed. His helmet comes flying off, he runs, grabs his helmet, puts it back on and runs the defender down. So just wanted to highlight that while talking about Hakim's injury because it happened on that play, but disappointed. But we'll get him back as soon as we can.”
Wills still unavailable – The wait for Jedrick Wills Jr. to return continues. “He will not be practicing this week, but continues to work very hard,” Stefanski said. Wills continues to rehab from MCL surgery. Right tackle Jack Conklin is doing the same from ACL and MCL surgery.
What’s next – With the tackle situation being as dire as it is, what’s next? Last Sunday the Browns re-acquired center Nick Harris from Seattle after losing Luke Wypler to a broken ankle. Could more moves be in the offing to shore things up on the edges? “We're working through all those type of things,” Stefanski said. “Nobody loves the injury piece of this, but when it happens, we have to do our due diligence and look around and that type of thing. But I feel confident certainly in the group that we have.” As of now, Dawand Jones, Ifedi, rookie Lorenzo Thompson and Roy Mbaeteka are the lone healthy players remaining on the depth chart at offensive tackle. “I can understand what that may look like, but for us, we feel really good about the people we have in this building,” Stefanski said. “We got guys that are working hard to get back and we'll just deal with it day to day.”
Watson plan – As of now, Deshaun Watson is scheduled to play the preseason finale at Seattle but Stefanski left himself some wiggle room Sunday to change that. “I always take in information, so I'm going to make sure I talk to and work through that this week,” Stefanski said. “Not going to get into who plays and how much just yet, but going to certainly work through that in the next couple of days.”
Crowded room – The one area on the roster where there is fierce competition for back end of the depth chart jobs it’s the defensive line, specifically defensive tackle. “You certainly need depth in this league, and that's one position that we feel strong about,” Stefanski said. “But yeah, I think it's when you have tough decisions to make, that's good news for your organization. So I really see tough decisions to make throughout this roster. We're going to work through that over the course of the next couple weeks before you have to make that decision. That’s a very good room with some good young players, some good veterans, guys that really push each other. But again, that's part of our job as coaches, as evaluators, as Andrew's job is to find out who the right 53 are. But doesn't mean it's an easy job.”
Another one down – Tight end Giovanni Ricci, who drew a pass interference penalty in the first half off a scramble drill, will miss several weeks due to a knee injury.
