Injured reserve has been in full use for the Browns this year
While it could be too little too late, the Cleveland Browns are set for reinforcements as their 1-3 start puts them at serious risk of missing the NFL playoffs. Browns fans got exciting news Sunday morning that RB Nick Chubb was likely to be designated for return from the physically unable to perform list this week.
On Monday, HC Kevin Stefanski confirmed that Chubb would return to practice on Wednesday.
While Chubb will return to practice, Cleveland will have three weeks to activate him to the 53-man roster. Given the nature of his injury and lack of practice time since, it seems unlikely that the star running back will be available in Week 5 but Chubb tends to overcome the odds.
The Browns have a number of players who are eligible to return soon including two others who were placed on lists before the season:
- RB Nyheim Hines – Non-Football Injury List
- OL Michael Dunn – Non-Football Illness List
Cleveland’s injured reserve is also filled with players who are eligible to return soon but the team can only bring back a total of eight players from IR (this does not include Chubb, Hines and Dunn) throughout the regular season. Two more can return for the playoffs.
The Browns injured reserve list has three players who are out for the season:
- OL Hakeem Adeniji
- WR David Bell
- OL Luke Wypler
After Week 1, Cleveland placed four players on IR who would be eligible to return after Week 5’s conclusion:
- S Juan Thornhill
- DT Maurice Hurst II
- LB Tony Fields II
- LB Mohamoud Diabate
Following the completion of Week 2, rookie CB Myles Harden joined the injured list and would be eligible to return after Week 6’s game while Wyatt Teller will not be eligible to return until after Week 7.
On top of all the players who could return from the above lists, the Browns could get David Njoku, Jedrick Wills, Jack Conklin and Pierre Strong healthy enough to be active soon after being ruled out in Week 4 due to injury.
All totaled, Cleveland’s active roster could have a huge influx of starters and key contributors over the next week weeks. Whether it matters or not will largely depend on the Browns ability to claw back to a .500 record in the next month or so.
Do you think the return of many of the above players will matter at this point or is the season already lost? Share your thoughts in the comment section below
