BEREA, Ohio — The Browns' injuries have come in bunches all season and have whittled down the roster, causing the team to turn to their depth to answer the call. That's no different this week as the team has ruled out safety Juan Thornhill, center Ethan Pocic and linebacker Jordan Kunaszyk for Sunday's game against the Chicago Bears while listed cornerback Denzel Ward, linebacker Anthony Walker and defensive tackle Jordan Elliott as questionable.
Thornhill has missed practice all week after tweaking his calf in pregame warmups before the Jaguars game and being ruled out of that matchup before kickoff. With Thornhill out and Grant Delpit on injured reserve with a groin injury, three players will likely see their roles significantly increase on Sunday with the Chicago Bears coming to town—safeties Ronnie Hickman, D'Anthony Bell and Duron Harmon.
Hickman, an undrafted free agent out of Ohio State this year, has already been tasked with stepping into a bigger role and did it well against the Jaguars last week.
"Any given play, any given time, a guy can go down. But we work, put the work in during the week so that if your number is called or when that time come, because it will come, you need to be ready because the guys in that room are dependent on you," Hickman said.
Bell shared similar sentiments and said he'll be happy to help however he can.
"I'm just happy that I can do whatever I can to help the team win. It's all about us, so we always say about us and that's what it's about," he said.
Harmon, who has the most experience of the group, said he's looking forward to getting to put his skills to use.
"My role is to do whatever they ask and whatever they ask of me from Coach Stefanski to Schwartz to Banda, it's just be myself. I'm privileged enough to have been in this game for 11 years, so I've seen some things. But another thing is I can still play football. So whenever my number is called, I'll be ready to go," Harmon said.
Defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz said there are some things he'd still like to see from his young and upcoming safeties, but he feels good about their efforts and promise this week.
"I thought you saw some really good things from Ronnie as far as overlapping in coverage. He made some plays from the half field, made some plays from the middle," Schwartz said. "I thought we saw some good things. D Bell is a very physical player. We’ll probably have (Duron) Harmon up also. He’s a veteran player and we’ll get all those guys involved.”
Meanwhile, Pocic will miss Sunday's game with a stinger he sustained last week against the Jaguars. He had missed the week of practice dealing with the nerve injury.
In his absence, Nick Harris will start at center.
Okoronkwo was also ruled out after sustaining a pectoral injury he played through last week. The injury could be season-ending, but the Browns are still evaluating the injury to see.
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Among the players listed as questionable, Ward is still working through a shoulder injury that has sidelined him for three weeks. Elliott returned to practice Friday after being sidelined in concussion protocol. Walker tweaked something in practice, head coach Kevin Stefanski said.
The Browns and Bears kick off their matchup in Cleveland Browns Stadium Sunday at 1 p.m.
