CLEVELAND, Ohio (92.3 The Fan) – With the preseason behind them, the Browns got some good news on the injury front as the roster cut down deadline approaches.
Here’s the top Brownie Bites from Monday’s Zoom video conference with head coach Kevin Stefanski.
Chubb starts on PUP – In what should come as no surprise to anyone, running back Nick Chubb will start the season on PUP (Physically Unable to Perform) and will miss at least the first four weeks of the season. “He's working very, very hard,” Stefanski said. “The outlook for him is a day by day type of thing, and that's kind of how Nick operates, how I operate. So I'll tell you today, I'm watching him. He's working hard. He'll continue to do that. He's a huge part of everything we're doing. He's in every meeting, so no update other than to say, as you guys know, he's working very hard.” Chubb is rehabbing from two surgeries to repair extensive damage to his left knee, including ACL and MCL tears, suffered last September.
Wills and Conklin to return – Both injured starting offensive tackles could be available for Week 1 September 8. Jack Conklin and Jedrick Wills Jr. will not start the season on PUP, which considering how bad camp went at left tackle is a gift from the football gods. Conklin and Wills passed their physicals and can begin practicing Tuesday, but Wills will not be on the field just yet. With Wills still unavailable, Stefanski didn’t want to discuss contemplating moving Conklin to left tackle. “We're not going to set a depth chart,” Stefanski said. “We'll just work through all those type of things. Want to see, I'm excited to get Jack back out there at practicing and going through walkthroughs and that type of thing, but not going to get in specifics per se.”
Calvary arrives – A host of other Browns are also returning this week from injury lists: safety D’Anthony Bell (PUP-shin), defensive tackle Dalvin Tomlinson (PUP-knee), cornerback Greg Newsome (NFI-hamstring) and offensive tackle Jordan Hicks (PUP-knee). The four are expected to return to practice this week Stefanski said. Tight end David Njoku, running back Pierre Strong and linebacker Tony Fields II are also expected to return to the field after dealing with injuries during camp.
First round – The Browns waived 16 players Monday to trim the roster to 78: S Tyler Coyle, G Wyatt Davis, K Lucas Havrisik, CB Faion Hicks, LB Landon Honeycutt, LB Caleb Johnson, G Zack Johnson, DE Jeremiah Martin, T Roy Mbaeteka, LB Marvin Moody, T Chim Okorafor, RB Aidan Robbins, RB Jacob Saylors, LS Rex Sunahara, DE Isaiah Thomas, S Chase Williams (injury designation).
Tough time – Like the other 31 teams, the Browns have to cut the roster to 53 by 4 p.m. Tuesday. On Wednesday the team can establish its practice squad. “It's a tough time of on the calendar,” Stefanski said. “This is no fun for me as a coach when you got to let guys go, I've told them personally, I've told the team, I'm excited for all those guys. If it's not an opportunity here, I'll be rooting for them wherever it is. These guys have worked so hard going back to April, all the things we've asked them to do from a meeting standpoint, practice, what have you, they've really, really worked hard. So I'm a fan of guys that work hard and unfortunately there's some guys that we can't keep around just from a numbers standpoint, but we're appreciative of the work.”
