Browns KhaDarel Hodge Coming Off IR This Week

Monday, Cleveland Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski announced that wide receiver and special teams contributor KhaDarel Hodge would be coming back from injured reserve this week.

Cleveland Browns head coach came out and confirmed the news that Odell Beckham had suffered a torn ACL, ending his 2020 season, but he also noted that the team would be getting wide receiver KhaDarel Hodge back from injured reserve this week.

Hodge had suffered a hamstring injury in pregame warmups against the Dallas Cowboys, forcing him to not only miss that game, but was placed on injured reserve, forcing him to miss a total of four games.

His largest impact will come on special teams where he's been an effective coverage player, but it seemed like the Browns missed his contributions to their offense as well. Hodge was claimed off of waivers by ex-GM John Dorsey to help on special teams, but with the idea that he might have some upside as a receiver.

This year, Hodge was functioning as the team's third receiver early on in the year because of his size and speed at the position. And other than Odell Beckham, he was one of very few options that was able to stretch the field. With Beckham now out for the year, he might need to contribute more on offense, but his ability to stretch the field will continue to be valuable.

One of the issues the Browns have faced at times has been their spacing. Particularly when Beckham, who was dealing with turf toe, wasn't going deep, it enabled the defense to play incredibly tight to the line of scrimmage. Even if they had help dedicated to prevent Beckham from beating them, the rest of the defense was pressed up, which shrunk down the field considerably.

The loss of Beckham is huge and the Browns were eagerly anticipating the return of Hodge with Beckham in the lineup. Now, with Beckham out the rest of the season, Hodge might be asked to do more for this offense.