Browns: Denzel Ward Injures Knee, Grant Delpit Ruled Out

Bad news for the Cleveland Browns secondary ahead of their Wild Card matchup with the Houston Texans. Cornerback Denzel Ward injured his knee during practice on Thursday, while safety Grant Delpit has been ruled out, according to reports.

The news involving Delpit is hardly surprising. There was an outside chance of a return happening this week after being designated to return on Wednesday. It appears that there is just not enough time for everyone to feel comfortable with the prospect of Delpit taking the field.

The real blow for the Browns is Ward’s knee injury. A night and day difference exists for Cleveland’s defense with and without Ward. The Browns are 1-3 in games without Ward and 10-3 with him, allowing 846 passing yards and 10 touchdowns. While it does not seem too bad from a per-game standpoint (211.5), it does not tell the whole story. Cleveland was able to hold 2023 Russell Wilson, Jake Browning, and AJ McCarron to 313 yards in two games. Meanwhile, Matthew Stafford (279) and Trevor Lawrence (257) combined to throw for 536 yards and six touchdowns. It is much more likely that Texans’ CJ Stroud performs similarly to these outings rather than the others.

There is a chance that Ward could play on Sunday, as he is currently considered questionable. But if he is not able to play or is limited in any way, it would not necessarily be the end of the world. The Browns are a good enough team that they should be able to win even in their current injured state. It would just be a bit more difficult than initially projected to be earlier this week.