Browns injury tracker: Cleveland to be without its leading tackler for at least 4 games with a neck injury

Late in last week’s upset victory over the division rival Baltimore Ravens, one of the Cleveland Browns‘ best defenders left the field with a serious injury. Linebacker Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah collided with Ravens running back Derrick Henry on a tackle toward the end of the third quarter and remained down on the field for several minutes. He was eventually loaded onto the cart and taken to a nearby hospital with a neck injury.

Owusu-Koramoah is now headed to injured reserve, the team announced on Saturday morning. In a corresponding move, they elevated defensive lineman Sam Kamara from the practice squad to the active roster for Sunday’s game against the Los Angeles Chargers.

JOC was the Browns’ second-round pick, No. 51 overall, in the 2021 NFL Draft. He has since blossomed into one of the NFL’s best off-ball linebackers and last year made the Pro Bowl for the first time. He is again the team’s leading tackler this season, with 61 take-downs through eight games. He has a team-high 10 tackles for loss as well, halfway to last season’s team-high total of 20.

With fellow linebacker Jordan Hicks also banged up (he’s missed each of the last four games), we should expect Mohamoud Diabate, Devin Bush and perhaps Winston Reid and Nathaniel Watson to receive more snaps in JOK’s absence. The Browns have had to lean on their defense throughout this season as the offense struggled with Deshaun Watson under center, but they may be able to weather defenses absences better with Jameis Winston starting in his place.