Cleveland Browns: Injury concerns real for Jarvis Landry and Karl Joseph

Jarvis Landry and Karl Joseph are two names the Cleveland Browns can’t afford to lose for 2020.

The Cleveland Browns will need to be smart with how they handle Karl Joseph and Jarvis Landry’s injuries. Both have been placed on the Physically Unable to Perform list or PUP to start training camp.  For Landry, this was expected, for Joseph, it wasn’t. Both men have bad wheels and both men are going to be relied upon greatly on both sides of the line with regards to the passing game. For Landry, he remains the Cleveland Browns’ best option as a pass-catcher, and for Joseph, the recently signed safety has hopes to start and help limit the opposing teams passing attack.

Both men have injuries that can’t be ignored, however. For Landry, it’s his surgically repaired hip. The injury was severe and he’s expected to miss most of the offseason training camp. He hopes to be ready for the opener but who knows what Landry will look like by then and how much actual football preparation he’ll be able to get in before the season starts.

For Joseph, it’s apparently a flare-up of the same foot injury that ended his last season with the Las Vegas Raiders in 2019 (when they were still in Oakland). Zac Jackson confirms that his move to the PUP list had to do with that very same injury that ended his 2019 campaign.

The hope for Landry is that returns to his Pro Bowl form with the Browns but a hip injury can be career-altering, if not career-ending. Too often the body doesn’t heal correctly and the movement that a player once had is hindered. It’s possible this happens to Landry. It’s also possible that Landry does make a full recovery but it takes weeks if not months for him to return to form.

As for Joseph, this will hurt his ability to start come the season opener. If a player can’t stay healthy, especially if it’s a recurring injury like Joseph has, then he’s unreliable. Head coach Kevin Stefanski may be inclined to go with rookie Grant Delpit and veteran Andrew Sendejo as starters to begin the season.