The Cleveland Browns and head coach Kevin Stefanski suffered a scare in their Week 8 upset of the Baltimore Ravens. They lost Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah to a scary neck injury.
The Browns took Owusu-Koramoah into the locker room on a medical cart. Cleveland placed him on injured reserve Saturday. Many across the league now wonder if Stefanski and Cleveland will be without their star linebacker for the rest of the year.
Stefanski, however, provided a crucial update on the veteran defender to reporters.
“Yeah, obviously any injury is serious, a neck injury is serious. I’m really week-to-week,” Stefanski said, via the Browns team website.
Those words reveal Owusu-Koramoah's ailment isn't considered a season-ending one just yet.
“Put him on IR, that puts him out for four games,” Stefanski said. “So, I’ll trust in the medical team here. But with the medical team, we will continue to look at that.”
Stefanski's verbiage doesn't necessarily mean Owusu-Koramoah is a lock to return before season's end. The head coach simply has faith his medical staff will make the right call about his star linebacker.
The 25-year-old entered 2024 fresh off his best season as a pro. Owusu-Koramoah collected 101 total tackles, 72 solo stops, 3.5 sacks, and grabbed two interceptions. He also broke up a career-high six passes in coverage.
The former Notre Dame linebacker totaled 61 tackles including 39 solo stops in eight games this season. He was one sack away from shattering his previous best mark from '23.
Kevin Stefanski's LB options post Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah
The Browns are 0-1 this season without Owusu-Koramoah. They took the 27-10 loss to the Los Angeles Chargers on Sunday.
The visiting Bolts went straight after Stefanski's linebacker unit. Los Angeles pounded the ball 23 times for 96 rushing yards, averaging 4.2 yards per carry. J.K. Dobbins powered his way to two ground-based touchdowns.
Cleveland and Stefanski threw in Mohamoud Diabate and Winston Reid to offset Owusu-Koramoah's loss. Both struggled and only collected a combined six tackles including three individual stops. Stefanski, though, praised their effort.
“Yeah, those guys, they played hard. Wasn’t perfect all the time, but I thought they battled,” Stefanski told reporters.
Diabate is in his second season out of Utah. Reid is an undrafted rookie who last played for Football Championship Subdivision program Weber State.
“With young players, there’s going to be some mistakes. You know that when you’re playing some young players, but they certainly played hard,” Stefanski said.
The Browns are 2-7 and sitting at the bottom of the AFC North standings. They've had a far different season compared to their 2023 playoff run. Now, the 6-foot-2, 221-pound Owusu-Koramoah has to watch younger LBs step up. Though Stefanski and the team haven't officially shut down his season just yet.
