Browns Takkarist McKinley and Denzel Ward Return To Practice
Good news for the Cleveland Browns defense came out Wednesday afternoon as Takk McKinley returned to practice. McKinley has missed the majority of training camp with an excused absence. McKinley figures to be important in the defensive line rotation and getting him back is very important. After being off to the side in his first appearance at team facilities in some time on Tuesday, McKinley is back in action.
McKinley was signed as a free agent and will be the team’s third defensive end likely after Myles Garrett and Jadeveon Clowney. There is no word on what held him out specifically, but there was plenty of worry as time went on. Getting him back a few days before the final preseason game give him a chance to get some reps in and catch up.
Denzel Ward was another one who returned to practice on Wednesday. Ward missed some time with what the team labeled as soreness, likely a soft tissue injury. Ward has battled some hamstring issues throughout his career, so there was no reason to rush him through training camp. The team made the right choice and if all goes well Ward will be ready week one with no issue.
Rookie Anthony Schwartz is another that has fought through those lingering soft tissue injuries. As excited as some may be to see Schwartz on the field, there was no reason for the team to rush him. The rookie likely won’t have a large role to start, letting him heal was best case scenario. Schwartz will be a player that should play the final preseason game as long as he is good to go.
It was noted as well that defensive end Porter Gustin returned, another player that figured to be in the defensive line rotation. Greedy Williams was working on the bike along with Sione Takitaki and Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah. Cleveland seems to be getting healthy at the right time with a little over two weeks until week one.
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