Browns Safeties to Return to Practice, Others Join Baker Mayfield as Non-Participant
Against the Pittsburgh Steelers the Cleveland Browns had to operate without their top two safeties in John Johnson III and Ronnie Harrison Jr. Both players practiced for the Browns, as did Kareem Hunt and Troy Hill. Cleveland very well could get all of these players back on Sunday against the Cincinnati Bengals.
Baker Mayfield is notably already out for the Bengals game, but he was joined by Denzel Ward, David Njoku, Sione Takitaki and Malik Jackson as players who are not practicing on Wednesday.
With the last game being meaningless with no playoffs in reach the Browns very well could opt to sit multiple players. Cleveland is playing for at least another win toward the .500 record that they can no longer reach. But, that could be less important than a serious injury that could occur in a game that does not mean a whole lot.
Cincinnati is right there amongst the best passing teams in the league. Getting your defensive play caller in Johnson back is huge, as will be getting Harrison back. With Hill joining the two, Browns should have three starters back on the field for the defense. They will have their hands full with the likes of Ja’Marr Chase, Tee Higgins and Tyler Boyd.
It will be interesting to monitor the Ward injury, since he will obviously be matched up with Chase majority of the time. As the season ends Cleveland gets a bit more healthy, but it is a bit late.
Brandon Little is a writer for Sports Illustrated’s Browns Digest website and you can follow him on Twitter here. You can follow Browns Digest on Twitter as well here.
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