Injury woes continue for Cleveland Browns, Grant Delpit carted off practice

Cleveland Browns rookie safety Grant Delpit was carted out of practice Monday.

The Cleveland Browns have dealt with a variety of injuries already during this year’s training camp, with several coming on the defensive side of the ball. The injury woes continued Monday, as Grant Delpit was carted off the practice field, according to Cleveland.com’s Mary Kay Cabot.

NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo said the video showed Delpit banging his fist on the ground while also grabbing his ankle/Achilles area. Achilles injuries are a common injury during training camp, and several players around the league will miss the season because of training camp Achilles injuries.

After being selected in the second round of the 2020 NFL Draft, Delpit was in line to play significant snaps as Cleveland’s free safety. However, although it is early too speculate on his injury, the Browns are at risk of losing another one of their starting defenders.

The Browns have already lost starting linebacker Mack Wilson for at least the first half of the season after he suffered a severe knee hyperextension. Wilson was carted off the practice field on Tuesday.

The loss of Delpit could become an issue for the Browns, even though they have solid depth at safety. Delpit was going to play a critical role in Cleveland’s defense considering his ability to excel in coverage, but still play in the box and make tackles. Delpit had the potential of being a playmaker in Cleveland’s defense due to his comfort playing in the deep middle third, but also in man coverage in the slot.

If Delpit has suffered a severe injury and will miss at least a portion of the season, it would be expected free agent signee Andrew Sendejo will join Karl Joseph as the starting safeties. If defensive coordinator Joe Woods decides to deploy a two linebacker, three safety system, Sheldrick Redwine could also be in line to play a significant role in Cleveland’s defense.

Although the Browns have the depth to replace Delpit, the injury also raises concerns of how will it affect his development. Without an offseason camp to adapt to the NFL, Delpit’s first experience playing in a NFL system and continuing to develop his game was during training camp.

If Delpit has suffered a severe Achilles injury, it could force him to miss the entire 2020 season and not hit the field again until 2021. He will still be able to develop mentally in the film room, but 2021 could be just like his rookie season on the field.

It was expected there would be more injuries than usual during this training camp because of the players not having any offseason mini-camps. However, the Browns have been hit hard with the injuries, and losing Delpit would be a big blow for the defense.