Cleveland Browns Pro Bowl guard Wyatt Teller will miss “multiple weeks,” coach Kevin Stefanski said, with a knee injury he suffered during Sunday’s loss to the New York Giants. NFL Network reported Teller has a grade 2 MCL sprain.
On Wednesday, Stefanski said Teller would be placed on injured reserve, which requires an absence of four games. The team announced that guard/tackle Germain Ifedi was signed to the active roster from the practice squad.
Teller was one of at least four Cleveland players who needed to undergo MRIs on Monday morning after suffering injuries Sunday. The best player of that bunch, reigning NFL Defensive Player of the Year Myles Garrett, has been dealing with injuries to both of his feet and said after Sunday’s game he has multiple issues in his lower legs. Though Stefanski didn’t share extensive MRI results or an exact diagnosis, he classified Garrett as “day to day” going forward.
The Browns open a three-game road trip Sunday at Las Vegas. They will have played nine straight Sundays ahead of their bye in Week 10.
Teller, who went to his third straight Pro Bowl last season, teams up with Joel Bitonio to form one of the league’s top guard tandems. But Cleveland’s offensive line as a whole was struggling — both with injuries and performance — before Teller went down, and at least one more change is coming this week due to Teller’s injury.
Free, daily NFL updates direct to your inbox.
Free, daily NFL updates direct to your inbox.
Sign Up
Stefanski didn’t update the status of starting left tackle Jedrick Wills Jr. (knee) or backup tackle James Hudson III, both of whom left Sunday’s game. It’s unknown if the knee injury that forced Wills out is related to the knee issue that ended his season last November and kept him out of action until the Giants game.
New York sacked Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson eight times in its 21-15 win. Cleveland had to move Bitonio out from left guard to left tackle and center Ethan Pocic to left guard because of its tackle shortage.
Veteran tackle Jack Conklin was working toward making his season debut against the Giants before he suffered a hamstring injury during the practice week, and starting right tackle Dawand Jones was removed from the game due to a knee issue before the Browns were forced to re-insert Jones after Hudson was hurt.
Rookie Zak Zinter replaced Teller at right guard and has worked as the top backup guard since the middle of training camp.
More clues on Cleveland’s tackle position could come via roster moves in the coming days. If Wills, Hudson or Jones has to miss time due to injury, the Browns also have undrafted rookie left tackle Lorenzo Thompson on the practice squad. Conklin was a left tackle in college but has played almost exclusively at right tackle in his NFL career; he’s worked at left tackle at least some since returning to practice on Aug. 27.
Stefanski repeatedly said he expects Garrett “to battle” and try to play through his injuries, but the five-time Pro Bowler said after the New York game his lower leg issues were making his feet worse and he needed time to heal — though Garrett vowed to continue to play if possible.
Garrett said last week going forward he expects to be on something close to last week’s schedule, which included him sitting out practices Wednesday and Thursday before testing things out on Friday. Considering that was before Garrett suffered either some new injury or aggravated a previous one, it will almost certainly be late in the week before there’s any clarity on his status for Sunday’s game against the Raiders.
Required reading
• Browns’ offense hasn’t been just bad, it’s been borderline hopeless
• Browns have an identity crisis; they refuse to accept who they really are
(Photo: Nick Cammett / Diamond Images via Getty Images)
