Myles Garrett exits practice with an ankle injury

Cleveland Browns defense end Myles Garrett left Wednesday’s practice with an ankle injury and there is no word on his status for Sunday’s game.

The Cleveland Browns selected defensive end Myles Garrett with the No. 1 overall selection of the 2017 NFL Draft with the idea that he would terrorize opposing quarterbacks.

At the top of that quarterback list for many Browns fans is Ben Roethlisberger of the Pittsburgh Steelers. With the Browns set to open the season on Sunday against the Steelers at FirstEnergy Stadium, the thought of Garrett driving Roethlisberger into the turf has danced through fans’ heads throughout the summer.

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That dream may be on hold, however, as Garrett reportedly left Wednesday’s practice early because of an injury to his right ankle, according to Mary Kay Cabot of cleveland.com and several other news outlets.

Garrett injured his left foot near the close of veteran minicamp in May, and also played through a high-ankle sprain with Texas A&M in 2016, so Garrett and injured ankles are nothing new.

The Browns have yet to release any details on the injury, but no one involved can feel good about losing a potential game changer on the first full day of practice for the season opener.

Garrett met with the media prior to practice and talked about looking forward to the challenge of taking on Roethlisberger and the Steelers, according to clevelandbrowns.com:

"“You shouldn’t be scared to take anybody down. We’re going to come at him as a collective group. It’s not just one player getting after five guys. It’s our whole defense against their offense. I’m not going to be alone in this.”"

While it is true that Garrett is just one player, he is the centerpiece of the Browns defense. He is a player that opposing offenses must take into account on every play, and he can elevate the play of his teammates simply by occupying so much of the offense’s attention.

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The defensive line may already be without one of its starting defensive tackles as Danny Shelton has been out with a knee injury. If the Browns were to also lose Garrett for Sunday’s game, it makes an already tough situation that much more difficult.