8 Cleveland Browns rehabbing major injuries this season

4. Return man JoJo Natson coming back from torn ACL

JoJo Natson began the season as the Browns kick and punt returner and received good reviews. The diminutive Natson is only five-foot-seven and 152 pounds but lightning-quick, able to change directions as fast as anyone in the NFL. The Browns were also using him in the backfield on specialty plays.

His career punt return average with the Rams was 9.5 yards per return, which is more than respectable.

Natson was hurt on a punt return against Washington. As is the case with OBJ, there is no reason to believe that there are complications, and the chances of recovery are very high.

However, had he not gotten injured, it’s not clear that he would be able to make the team this season because the Browns drafted another wide receiver in Anthony Schwartz. Hence the extra roster spot for Natson may be hard to justify even though he is the best punt returner on the team.

That’s a deceptive component of the recovery statistics of medical injuries. If the return to play (RTP) stats are less than 100%, it does not mean that the surgery is unsuccessful. Since the average NFL career is six years (shorter for those who are not high draft picks), that means the attrition rate is something like one-sixth or 17% just on the average and RTP might never be better than about 83% in the best case.

Assuming that the practice squad rules stay the same as last season, there are only six slots for veteran players. The Browns like Natson but we’ll see.

In summary, Natson will very likely be fine from his surgery but has to prove that he retains every bit of the quickness that got him to the NFL. He still faces an uphill fight to make the team as a special teams player and backup wide receiver. He should make an NFL practice squad as a minimum, either with Cleveland or somewhere else.