Jarvis Landry playing with broken rib

Cleveland Browns wide receiver Jarvis Landry revealed on Thursday that he has been playing the past two weeks with a broken rib.

Landry suffered the injury on the third play of the game against the Indianapolis Colts on October 11. He took a hit from linebacker Zaire Franklin after a 32-yard reception that left Landry crawling off the field.

In a word, “ouch!”

Landry discussed the injury during a media session on Thursday and said he is doing what he can to minimize the issue, according to The Beacon Journal’s Nate Ulrich:

“That hit actually broke one of my ribs. So I’m still kind of dealing with and playing through that and just kind of out here in practice doing whatever I can and giving it my all on Sundays. It hurts, but depending on the play or whatever, at times, it’s bearable.

“But we’ve done a good job of making sure that I’m getting protection here throughout the week and then making sure that I cover it up and do whatever I need to do to play on Sundays.”

After sitting out a couple of plays against the Colts, Landry returned and finished the game with four receptions for 88 yards. The injury kept him out of practice for most of last week, but he was still able to play against the Pittsburgh Steelers, where he had three receptions for 40 yards.

This is not the first time that Landry has played through injuries with the Browns as he dealt with a hip issue all of 2019 and eventually had surgery in the off-season. Despite that, he still finished the season with 83 receptions for 1,174 yards and six touchdowns, leading the Browns in all three categories.

Landry’s desire to always be available on game day has not gone unnoticed by his teammates, as left guard Joel Bitonio said on Thursday, according to Ulrich:

“It’s a mentality and a pride thing, and he wants to be out there for his teammates. It’s something you want every guy on your team to be. Obviously, when guys are [severely] injured, you can’t play. But the guys that can play and the guys that fight through it, it’s a testament to them. And it shows what type of teammates they are and what type of people they really are off the field as well.”

It is nice that Landry is willing and able to fight through the injury to keep on playing. Although it would not be the worst thing in the world if the Browns can take care of business early against the Cincinnati Bengals this week and give Landry and his rib a bit of a breather.