Christian Kirksey to undergo surgery for torn pectoral muscle

Cleveland Browns linebacker Christian Kirksey underwent surgery on Wednesday for a torn pectoral tendor.

The news was first reported by NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport:

The surgery was successful and Kirksey is expected to make a full recovery, according to clevelandbrowns.com.

Kirksey suffered the injury during Cleveland’s win against the New York Jets on September 16 and the club placed him on injured reserve on September 21.

While Kirksey and the Browns were holding out hope that the veteran linebacker could return this season, today’s news makes it pretty clear that his season is done. It may also signal that his time in Cleveland has drawn to a close, as general manager John Dorsey may decide to move on from a player who has finished the past two seasons on injured reserve and has a base salary of $7.75 million in 2019 and $8.25 million in 2020, according to spotrac.com.

Kirksey spoke about his injury on Friday and said that being around the team is helping him deal with the situation, according to cleveland.com:

“It’s tough to not be playing, but at the end of the day I’m just trying to root on my guys. It helps [to be around his teammates]. You never want to go through nothin’ by yourself. Being around your brothers, get your mind off it.’’

It is a tough break for Kirksey, one of the team’s captains, who also missed the final six games of last season with an injury. He is in his sixth season with the Browns and has been a full-time starter since 2016.

Kirksey was in for 57 plays against the Jets and finished with one tackle and three assists. He opened the season with six tackles, including two tackles for loss, against the Tennessee Titans.