Cleveland Browns get good news and bad news on injury front

The Cleveland Browns got Anthony Walker back at practice but they also saw Myles Garrett and Denzel Ward sit out as they dealt with their own issues

Injuries plagued the Cleveland Browns defense throughout the 2020 season and while there hasn’t been anything detrimental this year, 2021 is still giving them a few hurdles.

The Browns were already forced to work without Anthony Walker for a week after he suffered a leg injury last Monday. Fortunately, he was able to return, but the bad news is that there were two other starters missing on Tuesday.

According to Camryn Justice of News 5 Cleveland, Denzel Ward and Myles Garrett were each sidelined on Tuesday.

Walker’s return should help the linebacker corps since he’s been selected as one of the players to wear the green dot on his helmet, meaning he will be receiving calls from the sidelines to relay to the rest of the defense.

An addition from the Indianapolis Colts in the offseason, Walker is expected to help solidify their biggest weakness from 2020 and will need all the reps he can get in order to shoulder the load being placed on him.

While it was good to get Walker back, seeing Garrett and Ward miss time has to be frustrating. Ward, who is one of the players in line for a new deal, continues to have issues with durability and has never played more than 13 games in a season while missing 11 in three years.

He’s reportedly dealing with soreness so hopefully, it won’t be an ongoing issue but whenever the No. 1 cornerback isn’t suited up, the defense could struggle.

Garrett has also missed a lot of time in his career sitting out 13 games in his four seasons — although six of those were due to suspension in 2019. He’s dealing with a hamstring issue and while his durability isn’t a major concern, it’s never fun hearing that the best player on the team is sidelined for any amount of time.

Cleveland’s first preseason game is Saturday, Aug. 14 as they head to Jacksonville to take on the Jaguars. Walker will likely suit up for that game but it will be interesting to see if Garrett and Ward are going to. Of course, neither needs the preseason experience, so they may just play it safe.