The Browns and their second-leading edge rusher, Ogbo Okoronkwo, are still trying to determine if he must undergo season-ending surgery to repair his torn pectoral muscle.
Okoronkwo, second on the team with 4.5 sacks, suffered the injury during Sunday’s 31-27 victory over the Jaguars, but returned to the game, much to the belated chagrin of defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz. He’s definitely out for Sunday’s game against the Bears, but might have a shot to play at some point during the regular season or playoffs, a league source told cleveland.com.
Ogbo came back and played, God bless him,” Schwartz said. “He had one arm. I mean, I didn’t even realize it as the game was going on. I watched on film and I almost threw up that he was out there. He’s a tough guy and he actually did his job in the scheme. He was out there and felt a tremendous responsibility, and some of those guys are energy guys for us. Ogbo and Mo (Hurst) in particular, Grant (Delpit), you know, they’re tempo setters for us and we’re going to need to replace that on our defense also.”
Signed as a free agent in the offseason to a three-year deal worth $19 million, Okoronkwo is exercising his right to a second opinion with a doctor of his choosing to decide how to proceed.
While playing for Oklahoma, he played through a rotator cuff injury, but told cleveland.com earlier this season he wishes he would’ve shut it down then because he wasn’t able to help the team as much as he wanted.
As of now, Okoronkwo is likely to need season-ending surgery, but his inner circle — including the Browns and his agent Nicole Lynn of Klutch Sports — are working with him to make the right decision
He will miss some time, but the Browns are holding out hope that he can make it back at some point. In the meantime, second-year pro Alex Wright and rookie Isaiah McGuire will step up in the rotation and fill the void. Hurst also suffered a torn pec in the game and underwent season-ending surgery this week. Delpit underwent surgery to repair a groin muscle, and is on IR for at least the final four games.
“We’ve taken our fair share of injuries over the last few weeks, particularly in this last game,” Schwartz said. “It’s the NFL, it’s a physical game and you know, you’ve got to be able to plug guys in and still have good performances, and that’s what our goal is going to be. We’ll miss those guys, but we have other players that can pick up that slack and they’ll give great opportunities for other guys.”
Safety Juan Thornhill still idle with calf injury
Thornhill aggravated his calf in pregame warmups before the Jaguars game on Sunday and was a last-minute scratch. That threw the secondary — already minus Denzel Ward (shoulder) for the third straight week — into pivot mode. By the fourth quarter, they lost Grant Delpit — for the rest of the regular season — to a groin injury that required surgery. The Browns were down to undrafted rookie Ronnie Hickman and second-year pro D’Anthony Bell, and might be that way again Sunday against the Bears.
We lost Juan in pregame warmup and then we lose Grant,” Schwartz said. “We were out of a lot of our sub packages where we play extra safeties and Cam Mitchell came in, played really well for us at the nickel, but he left the game and then lost Jordan Elliott early in the game and then lost Mo and lost Ogbo.”
The defense remained healthy early in the year, but has been hit hard the past few weeks, especially against the Jaguars.
Denzel Ward limited the past two days
Ward, who’s missed the past three games with his shoulder injury, has been limited on Wednesday and Thursday, but was also limited last week and wasn’t able to play. The Browns are hoping that changes this week.
“Been playing without Denzel (Ward) for almost a month now also,” Schwartz said. “Hopefully we can get him back soon and get him back on the field for us. It is what it is. The game doesn’t care. Obviously, the opponents don’t care, but the game is Sunday for 60 minutes and it doesn’t care if you’re playing rookies. It doesn’t care if you have injuries. It doesn’t care if you’re at full strength. And that’s our focus.”
