{"id":77238,"date":"2024-01-04T01:38:05","date_gmt":"2024-01-04T01:38:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/aweu.info\/?p=77238"},"modified":"2024-01-04T01:38:05","modified_gmt":"2024-01-04T01:38:05","slug":"browns-sign-bills-2022-pro-bowl-lineman-ahead-of-playoffs-kieu-linh","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/aweu.info\/browns-sign-bills-2022-pro-bowl-lineman-ahead-of-playoffs-kieu-linh\/","title":{"rendered":"Browns Sign Bills\u2019 2022 Pro-Bowl Lineman Ahead of Playoffs"},"content":{"rendered":"

The\u00a0Cleveland Browns\u00a0are beefing up the offensive line ahead of a playoff run they hope spans the entire month of January and arrives at Super Bowl LVIII in Las Vegas this February.<\/p>\n

\"Rodger<\/p>\n

Cleveland added offensive guard\u00a0Rodger Saffold\u00a0to its practice squad on Wednesday, January 3, per the\u00a0Browns\u2019 official X account.<\/p>\n

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https:\/\/twitter.com\/Browns\/status\/1742562509981380641<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Saffold is a two-time Pro Bowler, earning the honor in each of the previous two seasons \u2014 once as a member of the\u00a0Tennessee Titans\u00a0(2021) and last year as a lineman for the\u00a0Buffalo Bills. He was also a second-team All-Pro with the\u00a0Los Angeles Rams in 2017.<\/p>\n

Saffold, now 35 years old, has not registered a snap this year despite his recent NFL success, though he spent multiple months on the\u00a0New York Jets\u2018 practice squad before his release and subsequent addition to the Browns Wednesday.<\/p>\n

The offensive guard\u00a0appeared in 176 games and made 173 starts\u00a0over 13 years in the league prior to the 2023 campaign. Saffold is eligible to play in the Browns\u2019 season finale against the\u00a0Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday \u2014 a game with no stakes for Cleveland as the team has already clinched the top Wildcard spot (No. 5 seed) in the AFC Playoffs, which begin on January 13.<\/p>\n

Browns Offensive Line Hit Hard by Injuries During 2023 Season<\/h2>\n
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The injury bug has bitten Cleveland time and again during the 2023 campaign, with no unit taking as many hits as the offensive line.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

It has been the tackle position that has had to bear the brunt of the issues, with starters\u00a0Jack Conklin\u00a0and\u00a0Jedrick Wills Jr.\u00a0each on injured reserve and out until next season with knee injuries. Rookie tackle\u00a0Dawand Jones, who filled in for Conklin for several weeks after he suffered a knee injury in the season opener, is also done for the year and the playoffs with a knee injury of his own.<\/p>\n

Joel Bitonio\u00a0and\u00a0Wyatt Teller, Cleveland\u2019s pair of Pro-Bowl guards, are both currently healthy enough to play\/start, though each has been on the injury report this season. Bitonio has missed one full game, while Teller has started all 16 contests to this point.<\/p>\n

Rodger Saffold Could Start for Browns in Week 18 Against Bengals<\/h2>\n
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\"Rodger<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

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There is a reasonable chance that Saffold could start in Week 18 regardless, as head coach\u00a0Kevin Stefanski\u00a0announced Wednesday that QB\u00a0Joe Flacco\u00a0will not play in Cincinnati in favor of backup\u00a0Jeff Driskel.<\/p>\n

Other important players and\/or those dealing with injury are thus unlikely to go as well, including wide receivers\u00a0Amari Cooper\u00a0and\u00a0Elijah Moore. The middle of the Browns\u2019 offensive line, which is still among the best in the league when healthy, is all the more important because of the injury problems on the outside at tackle. As such, it safe to assume that Stefanski will sit Bitonio and Teller on Sunday as well, which would then create call for Saffold to start in one of their places.<\/p>\n

The extra work may prove crucial for Saffold, who hasn\u2019t played all year, if ends up rotating in off the bench or starting somewhere on the Browns\u2019 offensive line during the playoffs due to injury.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The\u00a0Cleveland Browns\u00a0are beefing up the offensive line ahead of a playoff run they hope spans the entire month of January and arrives at Super Bowl LVIII in… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-77238","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-nfl"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/aweu.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77238","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/aweu.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/aweu.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aweu.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aweu.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=77238"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/aweu.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77238\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/aweu.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=77238"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aweu.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=77238"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aweu.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=77238"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}