Pair of Browns' starters questionable
The Cleveland Browns defense has been hit with injuries that threaten to sideline a pair of starters for Sunday's regular-season opener against the Miami Dolphins.
Cornerback Buster Skrine was listed as questionable Friday with a shoulder injury suffered in practice the previous day, while left defensive end Ahtyba Rubin is also questionable with a calf injury.
If Skrine doesn't play, Chris Owens would likely get the start with Leon McFadden moving into the nickel spot. The Browns kept only four cornerbacks on the 43-man roster, but head coach Rob Chudzinski said Skrine's injury doesn't necessarily force a roster move to add a cornerback.
"We feel like we have three safeties that can play corner as well," he said. "We're comfortable with doing that."
Rubin anchors the run defense on the left side, and his absence would mean increased snaps for Billy Winn, Ishmaa'ily Kitchen, Armonty Bryant and John Hughes. Chudzinski said Rubin's calf injury is not related to the leg injury he dealt with last season.
"I feel that the defensive line is one of the positions that we had depth," said Chudzinski. "We made sure we kept enough guys and extra guys on the front on both sides of the ball."
--OLB Barkevious Mingo was officially ruled out as he recovers from a lung injury. "He's made progress every day," Chudzinski said. "He's running more and doing more things. It's just a matter of him not having practice this week at full speed. We'll hold him out."
