The Browns may have one of their key offensive weapons back for Week 5.
Cleveland is listing tight end David Njoku as questionable for Sunday’s contest against Washington.
Njoku has not played since Week 1 with an ankle injury. He was limited in practice on Wednesday before he did not participate on Thursday. Head coach Kevin Stefanski told reporters the plan was to have him work on Wednesday and Friday, with the club monitoring how he responds.
Njoku caught four passes for 44 yards in the season-opening loss to Dallas. He had his best season in 2023, recording 81 receptions for 882 yards with six TDs.
While running back Nick Chubb (knee) had his 21-day practice window opened earlier this week, he will not be activated for Sunday’s game. The same goes for running back Nyheim Hines (knee). Both players have been limited in practice this week.
Via Ashley Bastock of Cleveland.com, Stefanski said Chubb “looks like himself to me” through the practice week.
Cleveland has also ruled out linebacker Jordan Hicks (ribs, elbow, triceps), offensive tackle James Hudson (shoulder), and defensive end Alex Wright (triceps). Wright is set to be placed on injured reserve, as he will be out for the rest of 2024.
Offensive tackle Jack Conklin (hamstring), offensive tackle Jedridck Wills (knee), running back Pierre Strong (hamstring), and offensive lineman Michael Dunn (illness) are questionable.
Quarterback Jayden Daniels will be missing one of his targets for Sunday’s game against the Browns.
Head coach Dan Quinn said at a Friday press conference that wide receiver Noah Brown will not play this weekend. Brown went from limited in practice due to a groin injury on Wednesday to out of practice on Thursday.
Brown, who signed with the Commanders just before the start of the season, has nine catches for 111 yards this season.
Defensive end Clelin Ferrell will also miss the game. Ferrell has been sidelined the last two games with a knee injury and was not on the injury report earlier this week, but Quinn said he will remain out.
Running back Brian Robinson has been out of practice with a knee injury and Quinn said he’ll be a game-time decision. The Commanders are set to get Austin Ekeler back from a concussion and he’ll be in line for a larger role if Robinson doesn’t play.
Earlier this week, we took a way-too-early look at the MVP candidates. We now need to add a name to the discussion.
Kirk Cousins.
And it’s not just because he threw for a career high and franchise-record 509 yards on Thursday night in an overtime win over the Buccaneers. With two NFC South victories only four days apart, the Falcons have stolen the driver’s seat in the division. And if the Falcons win enough games to secure the top seed in the NFC, Cousins becomes one of the two de facto finalists for the award.
It’s a quarterback thing, unless a running back or a receiver does something historic. (No receiver has ever done anything sufficiently historic to win the regular-season MVP.) And unless there’s a quarterback from a team other than one of the top seeds that does something historic, the MVP will be the quarterback of one of the two No. 1 seeds.
Can the Falcons be the No. 1 seed in the NFC? Absolutely. Through four weeks (and one game) there’s no juggernaut in the conference. No team of destiny. No city through which the road to the Super Bowl is destined to lead.
Sure, the Vikings are 4-0. They have more winning to do before they’ll remind anyone of 2009 (when they were the No. 2 seed) or 1998 (when they were the top seed). The NFC East is a jumbled mess, where Cousins’s other former team is the best of the bunch, so far.
The 49ers are the one team that can find the gas pedal and secure the top spot in the conference. And if/when the 49ers play up to their full potential, it won’t be easy for the Falcons and Cousins (a Kyle Shanahan favorite) to go there and win.
That’s been the issue with past Cousins teams in the playoffs. They’re good enough to get there. They’re not good enough to beat that season’s juggernaut.
This year, maybe they’ll become the juggernaut.
Browns tight end David Njoku hasn’t played since the season opener when he injured his ankle. The Browns were encouraged when he returned to limited work Wednesday.
Njoku, though, did not practice Thursday.
The Browns could use Njoku, who had four receptions for 44 yards against the Cowboys in Week 1.
Offensive tackle Jack Conklin (hamstring), edge rusher Myles Garrett (Achilles), offensive tackle Jedrick Wills (knee), center Ethan Pocic (ankle) and Ogbo Okoronkwo (illness) returned to practice on a limited basis. Offensive tackle James Hudson (shoulder) was downgraded to a non-participant after limited work Wednesday.
Defensive end Za’Darius Smith (neck) popped up on the practice report as a limited participant.
The rest of the team’s report remained the same, including linebacker Jordan Hicks (ribs, elbow, triceps) still out.
Commanders running back Brian Robinson did not practice for the second consecutive day, calling into question his availability for Sunday’s game against the Browns.
Robinson is dealing with a knee injury. He rushed for 101 yards on 21 carries with a touchdown and caught three passes for 12 yards in the Week 4 win over Arizona. In four games this season, he’s tallied 307 yards rushing with three TDs.
If Robinson ends up sidelined for Sunday, the Commanders are looking more likely to have Austin Ekeler back. Ekeler (concussion) was upgraded to a full participant on Thursday after he was limited on Wednesday. He was not with the team last week in Arizona.
Also on the injury report, receiver Noah Brown (groin) was downgraded from limited to a non-participant.
Guard Nick Allegretti (ankle) and safety Tyler Owens were upgraded from DNP to limited. Linebacker Dominique Hampton (knee) was upgraded from DNP to full. Defensive tackle Jer’Zhan Newton (foot) was upgraded from limited to full.
Safety Percy Butler (groin) remained limited.
Cornerback Emmanuel Forbes (thumb), linebacker Jordan Magee (knee), quarterback Marcus Mariota (pectoral), safety Quan Martin (shoulder), and defensive lineman Efe Obada (tibia/fibula) remained full.
Commanders quarterback Jayden Daniels pushed back at the praise he’s been receiving so far this season by noting that he’s still a rookie, but there’s no doubt that he’s been the most impressive rookie on the offensive side of the ball this season.
The NFL made that official on Thursday by naming Daniels the league’s offensive rookie of the month for September. Daniels piloted the Commanders to a 3-1 record and set a record for the first four games of a season by completing 82.1 percent of his passing attempts.
Daniels posted completion percentages of over 85 percent in the team’s final two September games and he’s thrown for 897 yards overall. He’s delivered three touchdowns and been intercepted once while also running 46 times for 218 yards and four touchdowns.
It’s a run of quarterback play far better than most of what the Commanders have seen in years and the prospect that he’s just scratching the surface has created a lot of excitement about the future in Washington.
The dismal recent history of the Commanders led to a lot of talk about quarterback Jayden Daniels being something of a franchise savior when he was selected with the second overall pick this year, but Daniels deflected such talk by saying that he’s just a rookie.
Daniels has done nothing to quiet lofty talk about what he’ll mean to the organization over his first four games, however. Daniels set a record for the highest completion percentage in the first four weeks of any NFL season and the Commanders are 3-1 over those games. During a Wednesday press conference, Daniels interrupted a question regarding that success while saying that he’s “still a rookie.” He was then asked if he could at least be regarded as a “star rookie.”
“Y’all can say whatever y’all you want,” Daniels said. “I’m still a rookie in my eyes, so I let everybody else do the talking for me. I don’t get caught up in that stuff. It’s just a blessing. Just the preparation, obviously the team believing in me and we’re going out there and competing every Sunday.”
Daniels said it’s vital that he stays “level-headed” because he knows all of the people singing his praises will do the opposite if he should have a bad outing or two. That’s why he wants to “keep the main thing the main thing” by focusing on his play rather than what anyone might be saying about him.
Browns running back Nick Chubb officially returned to practice on Wednesday in a limited capacity.
It was Chubb’s first practice in over a year after he suffered a major knee injury during the team’s Week 2 matchup against Pittsburgh last season.
The Browns have 21 days to activate Chubb to the 53-man roster.
Running back Nyheim Hines (knee) also participated in his first regular-season practice with Cleveland as a limited participant. He also is now in a 21-day window.
And tight end David Njoku (ankle) was limited as he works his way back into the mix.
Defensive end Myles Garrett (Achilles), right tackle Jack Conklin (hamstring), linebacker Jordan Hicks (ribs, elbow, triceps), center Ethan Pocic (ankle), left tackle Jedrick Wills (knee), and defensive end Alex Wright (triceps) all did not practice. Garrett’s listing is notable because it does not include the foot and thigh injuries it did last week.
Cornerback Greg Newsome also did not practice due to personal reasons.
Guard Michael Dunn (illness), offensive tackle James Hudson (shoulder), offensive tackle Dawand Jones (knee), and running back Pierre Strong (hamstring) were all limited.
Cornerback Martin Emerson (gameday concussion protocol evaluation), receiver Jerry Jeudy (knee) and linebacker Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah (hand) were all full.
Running back Brian Robinson has been a key piece of a productive offense in Washington, so his appearance on Wednesday’s injury report is reason for some concern.
The Commanders listed Robinson as out of practice with a knee injury. Robinson ran 21 times for 101 yards and a touchdown in last Sunday’s win over Arizona and he has 66 carries for 307 yards and three touchdowns on the year.
Robinson’s backfield mate Austin Ekeler didn’t play last weekend due to a concussion, but he was back as a limited participant on Wednesday.
Wide receiver Noah Brown (groin), safety Percy Butler (groin), and defensive tackle Jer’Zhan Newton (foot) were also limited. Guard Nick Allegretti (ankle), tight end Zach Ertz (rest), defensive end Clelin Ferrell (knee), linebacker Dominique Hampton (illness), and safety Tyler Owens (shin) did not practice.
The Commanders are getting their veteran backup quarterback back on the field.
Washington has opened the 21-day practice window for Marcus Mariota as he returns from injured reserve.
Mariota has been dealing with a pectoral injury, missing the season’s first four weeks. After starting 13 games for the Falcons in 2022, Mariota made three appearances for the Eagles last year. He threw for 164 yards with one touchdown and one interception.
The Commanders also designated linebacker Jordan Magee and defensive lineman Efe Obada to return to practice. Magee was on IR while Obada was on the reserve/physically unable to perform list.
Washington has 21 days to activate all three players to the 53-man roster.
Additionally, receiver Jamison Crowder has been placed on injured reserve. He has been dealing with a calf injury. Crowder has recorded one catch for 5 yards in 2024.