BREAKING: Cleveland Browns Receive MASSIVE Injury Update; Lead Back Could Play Sunday Against the Seattle Seahawks Despite Suffering Devastating Ankle Injury – Week 8

The Cleveland Browns received a pleasant surprise on Thursday. Starting running back Jerome Ford is making headlines after giving it a go at practice despite being fresh off suffering a sprained ankle last Sunday.

Ford suffered what looked to be a devastating ankle injury in Week 6 against the Indianapolis Colts. The second-year NFL vet had his right ankle trapped underneath a defender on a run early in the fourth quarter, knocking him out for the remainder of the contest. He suffered a sprained ankle that sources believed would sideline him for one-to-two weeks at a minimum. He finished the game with 11 carries for 74 yards and a touchdown while catching two passes for 20 yards. The Cleveland Browns pulled off a nail-biting 39-38 win to move to 4-2.

Jerome Ford has stepped up big for the Cleveland Browns after megastar running back Nick Chubb got lost for the season after suffering a gruesome knee injury in Week 2. Ford, a fifth-round pick in the 2022 NFL draft, immediately made an impact, rushing 16 times for 106 yards in the same game Chubb went down. The 23-year-old has 78 rush attempts for 344 yards and two scores on 4.4 yards per rush attempt in six games. He has also caught 14 passes for 104 yards and another pair of touchdowns. Ford starred in his final year of college, rushing for 1,319 yards and 19 scores for the Cincinnati Bearcats.

The Cleveland Browns have made precautionary moves in anticipation of Jerome Ford’s potential absence. They signed former running back John Kelly Jr. to the practice squad on Thursday. Signing former running backs in the wake of injury is nothing new for the Browns, as they inked Kareem Hunt to a deal after Nick Chubb blew his knee out in Week 2. Hunt spent the previous four years with the Browns, rushing for 1,874 yards and 16 scores. The Browns also have former New England Patriot Pierre Strong Jr. on the active roster. He is averaging a smooth 4.9 yards per rush attempt.

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The Cleveland Browns have signed running back John Kelly Jr. to their practice squad. Kelly is in his third NFL season and was previously on the Los Angeles Rams. He was drafted in 2018 by the team and has played in 13 games between the Rams and the Browns. This news comes in from the NFL Twitter account @AroundTheNFL.

Ford was originally supposed to miss one to two weeks with his injury, but has made good progress in practice and is now listed as questionable to play this week against the Seattle Seahawks. If he is not able to go, it will most likely be Kareem Hunt getting the most playing time this week along with Pierre Strong Jr., which should be enough for the Cleveland offense.

Kelly will be on the practice squad to start things with Cleveland this season, but there is a good chance that he can be moved up to the 53-man roster if another running back gets injured and he shows that he can play well. It will be interesting to see how the running back situation in Cleveland continues to play out as the season progresses.