The Browns head to Nashville in Week 7 with the AFC North still sitting in orange and brown hands, but the injury picture remains a major wrinkle. Cleveland will be without DT Mike Hall Jr. this week, another reminder that availability keeps hanging over this team as the 2026 NFL season rolls on.
That absence also throws a sharper light back on what Hall did in Week 4 against the Steelers on Thursday Night Football. The game was already complicated by injuries, with DT Mason Graham also going down that night. Graham is expected back in Week 7 after being injured early in Week 4 and then ruled out after halftime.
Hall’s night looked finished, too. Just before halftime, he injured his ankle, needed help getting off the field, and was carted to the locker room.
But later, with Graham out and his teammates needing a lift, Hall came back. He later said he knew his teammates needed him with Graham out for the game.
What followed was one of the key plays of the night: a huge third-down sack that knocked the Steelers out of field-goal range. In a 27-24 Browns win, that kind of swing mattered, and Hall’s return carried even more weight because of how banged up he was.
Now, with Hall set to miss his third straight game, the full picture is coming into focus. He wasn’t just gutting it out for a snap or two.
He was dealing with an ankle injury that has clearly been significant, one that will have needed at least a month off between games played. That makes his Week 4 return and his impact on that sack look even more impressive in hindsight.
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Browns Still Have A QB Crunch They Need To Solve Fast
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For now, the team is operating with three quarterbacks on the active roster and reportedly would like to keep all four around if it can, including Gabriel and Taylen Green. There is no sense of a trade market being built, unless an offer comes along that is too strong to pass up, while Shedeur Sanders is expected to stay in the backup role as Cleveland tries to sort out the numbers without creating a bigger problem at the position. [Read more 🡒]
Browns Keep Winning Ugly And Thats Becoming A Real Debate
The Browns are finding a way to keep stacking wins even when the performance is anything but clean, and Sundays 27-24 escape in Nashville fit that pattern perfectly. Cleveland moved to 5-2 after Deshaun Watson shook off an early interception and helped steer a late, efficient push that ended with Andre Szmyt drilling the game-winning field goal as time expired.
Quinshon Judkins kept the offense on schedule with 96 rushing yards and two touchdowns, while KC Concepcion turned in his first 100-yard receiving game to give the Browns another needed spark. The result keeps Cleveland near the top of the conversation, but the bigger question is whether these narrow, survival-mode wins say more about grit or about a team that still has plenty to clean up. [Read more 🡒]
Browns Rookie WR Just Flashed Bigger Potential Than Fans Expected
KC Concepcions latest outing gave the Browns another glimpse of why they were intrigued by his upside in the first place. Against the Tennessee Titans, the rookie wide receiver piled up 129 receiving yards, a total that landed him eighth in franchise history for receiving yards by a rookie wideout in a single game and put him in some notable company for a first-year player in Cleveland.
Derrick Alexander still owns the Browns rookie benchmark at 171 yards, a mark he set back in 1994, so there is still a long way to go before Concepcion starts threatening that place in the record book. Even so, his season line of 30 catches for 315 yards suggests this was more than a one-game spike, and it gives the Browns another reason to keep watching how quickly his role can grow from here. [Read more 🡒]