In Wake of Injury and Ineffective Play, Browns Sign DE Bryan Cox Jr.

The Cleveland Browns announced the signing of defensive end Bryan Cox Jr., a third year defensive end who has played 19 regular season games as a member of the Carolina Panthers. They had waived linebacker Malik Jefferson to create the roster space.

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Wednesday, the Cleveland Browns announced they had signed Bryan Cox Jr., a defensive end in his third season after entering the NFL as an undrafted free agent out of Florida. Cox has played in 19 regular season games, all with the Carolina Panthers. The son of former NFL linebacker Bryan Cox, he adds to a suddenly thin defensive end group. The team waived linebacker Malik Jefferson on Tuesday to create the roster spot to now add Cox.

At a listed 6-3 270, Cox brings the size the Browns and defensive coordinator Steve Wilks wants in his defensive edge players. This likely means the Browns expect to be without Olivier Vernon for the foreseeable future. Vernon suffered a knee injury at the end of the game against the Denver Broncos and did not play against the Buffalo Bills. To this point, head coach Freddie Kitchens has said Vernon is day to day.

This move obviously stands out given the fact the Browns have traded two of their edge players this year. First, trading Emmanuel Ogbah to the Kansas City Chiefs before the season and then trading Genard Avery a few weeks ago to the Philadelphia Eagles. Chad Thomas started against the Bills to little impact.

Cox gives them another rotational body until they get Vernon back, which hopefully will be sooner than later. The Browns play the Pittsburgh Steelers Thursday before getting a week and a half to prepare for the Miami Dolphins. If Vernon is truly day to day, it would seem like the Dolphins game would be the target return date.