A balmy 38 degrees in Berea felt like freezing, but it didn't stop Nick Chubb from practicing in shorts and short sleeves. Forecasts for Lambeau Field on Saturday call for 33 degrees and a 13% chance of precipitation. (TheLandOnDemand)
COVID carousel continues for Browns: Grant Delpit, James Hudson are in; JC Tretter is out
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Editor's note: Tony Grossi is an analyst on the Cleveland Browns for TheLandOnDemand.com and 850 ESPN Cleveland.
Takeaways from Browns practice and interviews …
Here come some reinforcements for the Browns.
Testing out of COVID protocols on Thursday: Safety Grant Delpit and right tackle James Hudson.
Expected back on Friday: Wide receiver Jarvis Landry, left tackle Jedrick Wills, and defensive tackle Malik McDowell.
Still possible for game day on Saturday: Quarterback Baker Mayfield, and possibly others.
But the big loss to COVID on Thursday was center JC Tretter, the NFLPA president who has long advocated players should be tested every day even though his constituency voted to go along with the league’s new voluntary and periodic random testing to tamp down on the number of players sidelined by COVID.
Tretter said in a Tweet that he volunteered to be tested.
‘After experiencing mild cold-like symptoms this morning, I chose to test at our facility and unfortunately, I am positive for COVID-19. I encourage all NFL players to take every precaution available to them to protect themselves, their families and their teammates from this virus’
It’s a bitter and costly loss for the Browns. Despite chronic knee ailments, Tretter played every offensive snap in every game since joining the Browns in 2017 – 78 in all.
He’ll miss his first game in Lambeau Field since leaving the Packers as a free agent after the 2016 season.
Coach Kevin Stefanski said Tretter would be replaced by Nick Harris, a 2020 fifth-round pick. Harris has been active for eight games and has not appeared on a single snap on offense all year. He couldn’t have drawn a tougher foe to make his season debut than Green Bay nose tackle Kenny Clark.
In any case, the offensive line appears to be back closer to normal after a 60 percent reconfiguring for the Raiders game on Monday. Joel Bitonio moved from left guard to left tackle, Michael Dunn played left guard and Blake Hance played right tackle.
The expected starting line in Green Bay would be:
Wills at left tackle, Bitonio at left guard, Harris at center, Teller at right guard, and Hance or Hudson at right tackle.
“Moving parts, but that’s the name of the game,” Stefanski said.
Harris made one start at guard as a rookie last season, but has not played his natural center position in an NFL game.
“JC’s a big part of what we do,” Stefanski said. “At the center position, you’re in the thick of it, making calls, doing so much from a mental aspect with the quarterback. He’s somebody you don’t just replace. But I think Nick Harris is up to the task and we have a bunch of smart guys along that front to help him.”
Myles to go
Defensive end Myles Garrett finished the work week without practicing because of a groin injury suffered late in the Raiders game.
After the game, Garrett vowed he’d have to be killed not to play in Green Bay. On Thursday, he wouldn’t say how he was feeling but double-downed on being ready.
“I feel like I’ll play regardless of how I feel,” he said. "I am about to give it my all. We have to win out to make the playoffs, and I am going to play every second of the game that I can."
Stefanski said, “I would say he’s 50-50. He hasn’t done anything all week so we have to see how he progresses. He’s very confident and he wants to play very badly, but we’ll see how it goes over the next couple of days. I just want to make sure we take in all the information.”
It’s a touchy situation because the Browns would not be eliminated with a loss to Green Bay, but could with a loss to Pittsburgh on Jan. 3.
Is there a conversation to be had about not risking worsening the groin injury and coming back for the Pittsburgh game?
“No,” Garrett said. “We need to win all three above everything else.”
About that non-tackle
Linebacker Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah was one of the players who failed to touch Las Vegas tight end Foster Moreau after a reception along the right sideline in the waning moments of the game Monday night. Moreau gained about five precious yards after JOK and Denzel Ward failed to lay a hand on him.
When asked about the play, JOK said, “Good question. [There are] 11 players on the field. Everybody has to do their job. It was Just miscommunication. Can’t happen next time, of course. We’ve corrected the mistake already. Not to get into any details, but we’ve corrected the mistake."
Brownie bits
The Browns ruled out safety John Johnson (hamstring) for the Green Bay game. It helps that Delpit should be able to go. He’ll be joined at safety by M.J. Stewart, who also figures to move inside to nickel back, and Jovante Moffatt. It’s possible that Ronnie Harrison could clear COVID protocols in time for the game on Saturday, although he would need to test out …
Owusu-Koramoah is not awed with the prospect of playing his first game in hallowed Lambeau Field, the Holy Grail of the NFL. “They have a stadium. They got seats. They got a grass field. They got people in them. Things we commonly see in the NFL. Some good cheese, I’m assuming. We’ll be ready,” he said. Of course, JOK played his collegiate career at Notre Dame, one of the most iconic venues in all of sports …
Garrett was saddened by the loss of Tretter to COVID. Tretter’s tireless work as NFLPA president has been “exhausting,” the center said on Wednesday. “I wouldn’t want to be in his shoes, because he has so much responsibility,” Garrett said. “I don’t anyone who could handle it as well as he has. It hurts to not see him on the field. It’s gonna be different.”
