Dawgs By Nature
Cleveland Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski confirmed the news that no one wanted to hear on Monday.
Ethan Pocic, the club’s starting center since 2022, will miss the remainder of the season after suffering a torn Achilles’ tendon in the fourth quarter of Sunday’s loss to the Tennessee Titans.
The injury, which the Browns and their fans are far too familiar with due to quarterback Deshaun Watson suffering one last season against the Baltimore Ravens, generally has a recovery period of at least nine months.
Not only will Pocic miss the final four games of this season, but the injury also means that he might have played his final game for the Browns, as he is scheduled to be a free agent at the end of the campaign.
Next man up for the position will be Luke Wypler, a sixth-round selection in the 2023 NFL Draft out of Ohio State. Wypler appeared in five games in his rookie season before missing the 2024 season after suffering an injury that landed him on injured reserve.
Wypler took over on Sunday after Pocic’s injury, and outside of a bad exchange with quarterback Shedeur Sanders that short-circuited a two-point conversion, he hung in there while playing 24 snaps. Hopefully, a week of precious first-team reps in practice will have Wypler fit as a fiddle in time for the game against the Chicago Bears on Sunday.
When the Browns take the field against the Bears with Wypler in the lineup, it will mark the ninth different starting offensive line combination they have employed in 13 games this season. They previously lost left tackle Dawand Jones to a season-ending knee injury, and played against the Titans without right tackle Jack Conklin (concussion) and right guard Wyatt Teller (calf).
Conklin is still in the NFL-mandated concussion protocol, and Teller has already been ruled out of the game against the Bears, which leaves left guard Joel Bitonio as the last man standing from the starting offensive line that took the field in Week 1 against the Cincinnati Bengals.
For what it’s worth, Teven Jenkins, who filled in for Teller against the Titans, was Cleveland’s highest-ranked pass blocker (79.2) by Pro Football Focus, while KT Leveston, who filled in for Conklin, received the fifth-highest overall grade (65.4) on the offense.
In other injury news, Stefanski did not have any updates on tight end David Njoku, who injured his knee on his touchdown reception in the second quarter, or cornerback Denzel Ward, who exited the game in the second half with a calf injury.
