Cleveland Browns: 3 players who couldn’t overcome training camp injuries
By Chad Porto
Joe Jurevicius
Technically a stretch, yes. Joe Jurevicius was a veteran of two SuperBowls, one as a little-used slot guy for the New York Giants that featured Kerry Collins, Tiki Barber, Jason Seahorn, and Michael Strahan but after a big 2001, left for Tampa Bay, where he helped lead the Buccaneers to a SuperBowl win that season. With titles and money, Jurevicius was keen on returning home. A local area star in Mentor for Lake Catholic, Jurevicius went to Penn State with the hopes of one day playing for the Browns. The veteran got to do just that in 2006. After two strong years, including the year Derek Anderson tore the league apart, Jurevicius needed minor surgery on his knee
Jurevicius returned to Berea during training camp to begin rehabbing with the idea of being ready by the start of the 2008 regular season. While training and doing his rehabilitation at the Cleveland Browns training facilities in the preseason, he developed a staph infection that quickly ended his career. He’d undergo seven total surgeries to clean out the infection and the team ultimately released him in 2009.
Jurevicius, and several other former players and coaches who all contracted staph opted to sue the Cleveland Browns for how their lack of a sterile environment. Jurevicius was in the midst of a career season prior to his surgery and as he wasn’t an overly fast wide receiver, more bit and mobile, he was someone who had more than a few years left. The staph infection though sapped him of his skills, and eventually, in 2010, the Browns settled out of court.
His injury and forced retirement was a huge deal locally for a long time. With his roots in Cleveland and the fact that it was his beloved hometown team that essentially ruined and ended his career, it’s incredible he doesn’t harbor any ill will. Jurevicius still does the occasional Browns related piece of media to this day.