BEREA, Ohio — Browns cornerback Denzel Ward still has a few weeks before he has to try to shut down Ja’Marr Chase and ruin Joe Burrow’s day.
That’s good news for the Browns, because Ward is day-to-day with his right shoulder injury suffered during Tuesday’s practice.
“Expecting him to be back out there pretty soon,” Kevin Stefanski said.
Asked if he’ll be back for the opener, he said, “he’s doing well, should be.”
The Browns can ill afford to be without their four-time Pro Bowl cornerback, especially with Martin Emerson Jr. out for the season with his ruptured Achilles.
“I mean he’s as important as it gets,” Myles Garrett said earlier in the day. “Rush and coverage work together. That’s my brother out there. I can’t do what I do without him and vice versa. So, I’m glad to see him come back in the building and doing well, but we just have to be careful and take care of ourselves and pick our brothers up and we can.”
Greg Newsome II is also still coming back from a shoulder injury of his own, and the Browns are into their depth at the vitally important position. They’ll have to hope Ward can get back in tine for the opener against the high-flying Bengals on Sept. 7.
In other Browns injury news, Shedeur Sanders returned to practice on Wednesday after straining his left oblique muscle (side of the abdomen) during the first joint practice against the Eagles last week. Sanders sat out the second joint session in Philly, and the Browns’ 22-13 victory in the preseason game, which Dillon Gabriel started.
He got plenty of work in during team periods on Wednesday.
“He’s doing more,” Stefanski said. “And the important part is just to find out how he comes out of today, how he felt and we’ll know more both after practice tomorrow.”
He said he’ll decide at some point after Thursday’s practice if Sanders will play some during the Rams game on Saturday. He also said he’s still limited.
“We still had a number of throws that we wanted him to get and then (evaluate) him afterwards,” Stefanski said. “Let’s see how he feels (Thursday). Not ready to say just yet (if he’ll play).”
He did say that Kenny Pickett, who returned to team drills on Tuesday, won’t play on Saturday. Pickett sat out Wednesday in part because Stefanski is trying to give reps to the players who will participate in the “dress rehearsal” game.
Joe Flacco will start that game, and be relieved by possibly Dillon Gabriel, Sanders and Tyler Huntley.
This post will be updated.
Football Insider newsletter free trial: Take a minute and sign up for a free trial of our Football Insider newsletter, featuring exclusive content from cleveland.com's Browns reporters.
If you purchase a product or register for an account through a link on our site, we may receive compensation. By using this site, you consent to our User Agreement and agree that your clicks, interactions, and personal information may be collected, recorded, and/or stored by us and social media and other third-party partners in accordance with our Privacy Policy.