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- Josh Gordon can now participate in walk-throughs (cleveland.com) - It’s often said that one must walk before you can run, and that’s certainly proving to be the case for Browns receiver Josh Gordon. Gordon, who returned to the Browns on Saturday from his treatment program at the University of Florida, moves to phase 2 of his return to the playing field Saturday when he’ll be permitted to participate in walk-throughs, coach Hue Jackson said Friday on a conference call.
- Hue Jackson concerned about Denzel Ward’s durability (ohio.com) - The Browns are counting on rookie cornerback Denzel Ward to start right away and become a cornerstone of their defense. During a conference call Friday, coach Hue Jackson said he believes Ward can deliver, provided the Ohio State product is able to stay healthy.
- Browns players still haven’t earned their stripes (PFT) - If you’ve seen any of Cleveland’s preseason games this year, you may have noticed that their helmets looks like uncarved pumpkins, all orange with no logos (like usual) and no stripes (not like usual). Coach Hue Jackson, who has earned only one win in two seasons, has decided that players must earn those three stripes, two brown and one white.
- 3 brutally honest insights about the Browns (DPD) - One could dismiss the struggles by claiming this was against the current Super Bowl champions. But is that not the level at which the Browns want to compete? Here are three brutally honest thoughts from Thursday’s win over the Eagles.
NFL:
- Julius Thomas retiring to pursue PhD in psychology (NFL.com) - Julius Thomas his hanging up his cleats to pursue a doctorate in psychology. The former tight end penned a retirement letter on The Players’ Tribune detailing the reason he’s walking away from football.
- Bengals cut defensive tackle Chris Baker (Cincy Jungle) - The Cincinnati Bengals have released veteran defensive tackle Chris Baker, the team announced Friday. Classified as an eighth-year player in 2018, Baker has had stops with Tampa Bay, Washington, Denver and Miami. The majority of his career was with Washington from 2011-16, during which he appeared in 76 games (42 starts) while recording 181 tackles, 11.5 sacks, five forced fumbles and five pass deflections.
- Ravens tight end Hayden Hurst out 3-4 weeks (Baltimore Sun) - Ravens first-round pick Hayden Hurst could be sidelined three to four weeks after undergoing a procedure to fix a stress fracture in his foot, the NFL Network reported Friday.
- Will Deshaun Watson and Carson Wentz crash back to earth? (ESPN) - The two most impactful quarterbacks of 2017 both ended their seasons on the sidelines with torn ACLs. Deshaun Watson and Carson Wentz put together highlight-reel campaigns before being struck down with knee injuries. We can’t predict exactly how Watson and Wentz will recover from their knee injuries, but what we can do is take a closer look at how they performed in 2017 to infer what they’ll do on the field in 2018.