Pettine: Browns Rookie TE Randall Telfer Will Take Awhile to Recover from Foot Surgery

When the Browns drafted TE Randall Telfer in the sixth round of this year's draft, there was some belief that one of the Cleveland Browns' top three tight ends (Gary Barnidge, Jim Dray, Rob Housler) might be expendable. That doesn't appear to be the case any more, though, after Mary Kay Cabot of the Plain Dealer reported that Telfer is expected to miss a good portion, if not all, of the season after having foot surgery in February:

Pettine revealed during the Browns Foundation Golf outing Friday that the former USC tight end might miss a good chunk of the season while recovering from his foot surgery.  Telfer suffered a left mid-foot fracture involving the Lisfranc joint during USC's 45-42 victory over Nebraska in the Holiday Bowl Dec. 27th.

Cabot speculates that Telfer could start testing his foot with respect to football near the end of training camp. Because he'll miss participating in offseason programs and training camp, though, he will likely begin the season on the physically unable to perform list, or could even go on injured reserve. The team signed undrafted free agent tight ends Emmanuel Bibbs and Kevin Haplea, but both are long shots to make the roster.