Browns LB suffers season-ending injury

Jacob Phillips‘ season has ended before it even began. The Browns linebacker has suffered a torn pectoral muscle and will miss the regular season, per ESPN’s Adam Schefter.

This is a tough break for Phillips. The fourth-year linebacker was limited to only seven games last season thanks to another pectoral injury. ESPN’s Jake Trotter writes that Phillips will soon go under the knife once again.

Phillips was a third-round pick out of LSU in 2020. He missed seven games during his rookie campaign thanks in part to stints on the COVID list, and he missed two months during the 2021 campaign because of a biceps injury. The linebacker was inserted into the starting lineup in 2022 following an injury to Anthony Walker, and he proceeded to start four games for Cleveland before suffering his own injury.

The 24-year-old finished this past season with 46 tackles and a pair of sacks. Had Phillips earned enough snaps, Pro Football Focus would have graded him toward the bottom of his position, although the site did give him solid marks for pass rushing.

With Walker and Sione Takitaki atop the depth chart, Phillips was eyeing a backup ILB role in 2023. The team could be lacking some depth now at the position, with the team relying on a handful of current and former UDFAs like Matthew Adams, Jordan Kunaszyk, Mohamoud Diabate and Cam Bright.