The Cleveland Browns have been hit with a major blow before the start of the 2020 season. On Monday, rookie safety Grant Delpit tore his Achilles and will undergo surgery. The team made the announcement on Tuesday and placed him in injured reserve, which means he will miss the entire 2020 season.
Delpit was seen carted off the practice field on Monday. He has been one of the many Browns players to suffer injuries since training camp. Local reporter John Sabol said seven Browns players have been hit with injuries including running back Nick Chubb (concussion) tight end David Njoku (wrist) and offensive lineman JC Tretter (knee). And minutes after Delpit went down, cornerback Greedy Williams was seen being taken off the field due to a shoulder injury.
Videos by PopCulture.com
Delpit was drafted No. 44 overall by the Browns in April out of LSU. During his time with the Tigers, Delpit was a first-team All-SEC player and consensus All-American in 2018 and 2019. Delpit also won the Jim Thorpe Award last season, which is given to the nation’s top defensive back. In 2019, Delpit recorded 65 tackles, 4.5 tackles for loss, two sacks and two interceptions with seven passes defended.
“Grant Delpit, excited to add him to the team,” Browns general manager Andrew Berry said on a conference call with reporters shortly after the team drafted him. “We really viewed him as a big versatile playmaker. He has been a really kind of an impact player for LSU over the past two seasons.” Berry also said the like Delpit’s “coverage abilities” and he was “a consistent ball producer throughout his career at LSU.”
“The other thing that stood out to us about Grant is just his toughness,” Berry continued. “He played through this season and really a lot of the year with a high-ankle sprain that would have put a lot of players out of commission for a longer period of time.” Berry also noted that when the Browns met with Delpit, he was “one of the more impressive interviews that we had at the combine from a football intelligence standpoint.” The Browns will now have to adjust their defense since Delpit is gone for the year. The good news is the Browns have veteran safeties Karl Joseph and Andrew Sendejo who have been starting throughout camp.
