Browns news and notes, Week 12: Safety Rodney McLeod suffers season-ending bicep injury

BEREA — The Browns received another body blow on the injury front as a result of a play in Sunday's win over the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Browns coach Kevin Stefanski announced Monday that safety Rodney McLeod will have season-ending surgery for the bicep injury he sustained early in the fourth quarter. Linebacker Anthony Walker Jr.'s prognosis was a little bit better, as the coach said his hamstring injury is a "week-to-week" thing to monitor.

McLeod is just the latest tough injury pill for the Browns, who are 7-3 in spite of a litany of those issues. He is the fourth starter or significant backup who has sustained a season-ending injury since the regular season began.

"You guys know how I feel about Rodney," Stefanski said Monday. "Unbelievable leader for this football team, has played really well for us. He's really a guy that I've gotten to know over this year, and (defensive coordinator Jim) Schwartz had a history with Rod and a bunch of guys knew Rod prior to this season. But just watching that guy work, watching him in the meeting room on the practice field during the games, just amazing teammate.

"So I feel for him, but he'll get fixed up and then he'll be back out here helping his teammates."

The Browns lost right tackle Jack Conklin to a knee injury in the season opener against Cincinnati, then running back Nick Chubb to a knee injury in Week 2 at Pittsburgh. Quarterback Deshaun Watson was placed on injured reserve last week with a displaced fracture in the glenoid of his right shoulder that will require surgery.

Meanwhile, starting left tackle Jedrick Wills Jr. (MCL sprain) and rookie cornerback Cameron Mitchell (hamstring) each remain on injured reserve with opportunities to come off the list in December.

"It really starts with the young guys like myself in the room just observing and seeing how Rodney leads," cornerback Greg Newsome II said. "And it's not going to just be one person to feel his role. It'll be impossible for somebody to feel his role. But as a collective group, everybody has to find a way to chip in and become even more vocal leaders and everything like that. So, it's not going to be an easy task for sure, but I think we got the right guys in the building to be able to fulfill."

The injury to McLeod occurred with 11:09 remaining as he was trying to tackle Steelers running back Jaylen Warren at the end of a 21-yard run. Warren used a stiff-arm to throw McLeod off him, and it appeared the injury happened when he tried to brace himself as he hit the ground.

McLeod had 29 combined tackles and two tackles for loss, as well as a pass defensed in 10 games. The veteran started Sunday because of a calf injury that kept safety Juan Thornhill out against the Steelers.

Whether or not Thornhill can play this Sunday in Denver, which Stefansk said remains up in the air, the Browns are going to have to lean upon a younger player to take snaps at safety. The first two up are second-year pro D'Anthony Bell and undrafted rookie Ronnie Hickman.

"Yeah, we trust those guys," Stefanski said. "They've played for us. They've come in in big moments and played for us, so we'll see how it all shakes out. But no different than any position. We trust our backups that when they get in there, they have their job to do."

Anthony Walker Jr. hamstring injury could test linebacker depth

Walker sustained the hamstring injury on the first play of the second quarter while assisting on punt coverage. It's the second year in a row he has been injured when the Browns play the Steelers in Cleveland, as he suffered a season-ending torn quad tendon in last season's Week 3 win over Pittsburgh.

While this injury isn't seen as season-ending, Walker's absence will still require the Browns to dip into their linebacker depth. Along with starters Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah and Sione Takitaki, Tony Fields II received some snaps at linebacker.

A potential option actually sits on injured reserve. Jordan Kunaszyk has been on the injury list since suffering a knee injury in the final preseason game against the Kansas City Chiefs, although he's well past the point where he needs to be eligible.

"Obviously (Jordan) continues to rehab and then we'll see where that shakes out this week," Stefanski said.

David Njoku gets right to work fixing mistakes

David Njoku was unhappy with himself after Sunday's win. Although the tight end had seven catches for 56 yards, including a massive 11-yard gain to help set up the game-winning field goal, he also struggled with drops during the course of the day.

The performance, despite the catch at the end, had Njoku beating himself up in the locker room after the game. He called it "unacceptable" and said he was going to do something about fixing the issue.

"I'm about to go right home and catch these JUGS right now," Njoku said Sunday. "So like I said, it was a good victory, but it's back to work."

Turns out, Njoku wasn't lying.

"Yeah, I can confirm he hit the JUGS machine because he FaceTimed me from his house on the JUGS machine," Stefanski said. "We have a ton of confidence in Dave. We're going to continue to throw him the ball. He comes through for us. Obviously he's hard on himself. That was a pretty big 11-yard gain there at the end, so we're always going to go to Dave."

Chris Easterling can be reached at ceasterling@thebeaconjournal.com. Read more about the Browns at www.beaconjournal.com/sports/browns. Follow him on Twitter at @ceasterlingABJ

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Browns news and notes, Week 12: Live updates on injury, roster moves