BEREA, Ohio (92.3 The Fan) – The Browns may have lost two more starters on defense Monday.
Rookie safety Grant Delpit was carted off during individual drills early in practice and cornerback Greedy Williams walked off with a trainer.
Delpit, who was injured without contact, is being evaluated for an Achilles injury and he will undergo further tests.
Williams, who is in his second season, departed with a shoulder injury according to the team.
The Browns already are without starting linebacker Mack Wilson and nickelback Kevin Johnson. Wilson suffered a hyper-extended left knee and Johnson was hospitalized for a day with a lacerated liver last week.
M.J. Stewart, who was filling in for Johnson, had the back of his leg wrapped and watched the second half of practice from the sideline due to a hamstring injury.
Denzel Ward, Donovan Olumba and Donnie Lewis Jr. worked as the top three corners Monday following the injuries while undrafted rookie Elijah Benton was paired with veteran Andrew Sendejo at safety with the first team defense.
Delpit, selected 44th overall in the draft and a two-time All-American at LSU, was expected to start Week 1. If he can’t, Sendejo and Karl Joseph, who is coming off foot surgery, would likely team up at safety.
Undrafted rookie linebacker Solomon Ajayi also left the field with a trainer after taking a shot to the groin region. The team officially said he left because of heat.
Sense of urgency – Kevin Stefanski and his staff are still in a teaching/install phase of camp, but that should be ending soon.
Offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt acknowledged before Monday's practice, time is starting to become a factor, and it is not on their side.
“The urgency is high right now. Through training camp and the installation, we are still trying to figure out who we really are,” Van Pelt said. “We did not have that time in spring. As we get through these next three or four days of practice, now, as an offensive group, I think we are starting to understand what we have, what we do well and how we can exploit defenses. As we get through this next stage of training camp and we start scaling down our installations and start really repping who we want to be and who we are, I think we will see that tighten up. As we go into the end of these practices, we are on installation. It might be Day 6, Install 6, and we do not really vary from that much. We are trying to get all the teaching of the system down and in. Once it is in and the next time we come through from an off day, now we will get to start really honing in and get to the formations, the personnel groupings and the schemes that we like, and we feel like that that is who we will be. We are moving in that direction – very excited about it – but the sense of urgency has to be high. We do not have any time to waste.”
Plays of the day – Baker Mayfield and backup Case Keenum hooked up with tight ends in a red zone 11-on-11 drill Monday for touchdowns.
Mayfield found Harrison Bryant in the end zone for his score on the right side of the field and Keenum hit Pharaoh Brown on the left side for six.
Empty nest – The Ravens announced they will not have fans at M&T Bank Stadium to begin the season Monday. The team previously announced they planned to have approximately 15,000 fans, then later announced that estimate was reduced to 7,500.
The Browns open the season in Baltimore Sept. 13. Cleveland remains undecided about fans at FirstEnergy Stadium.
Puppy pound counter – The Browns and northeast Ohio SPCA are up to 60 adoptions through camp so far and a total of 555 since the program’s launch in 2015.
Injury report – WR KhaDarel Hodge (personal), S Karl Joseph (foot), CB Kevin Johnson (liver), WR Jarvis Landry (hip), CB Terrance Mitchell (knee), TE David Njoku (wrist), DT Larry Ogunjobi (groin), WR Damion Ratley (groin). C JC Tretter (knee) and LB Mack Wilson (knee) did not practice Monday.