This story has been updated with new information.
The Browns are placing wide receiver/return specialist DeAndre Carter on injured reserve after he sustained a knee injury Sept. 28 in a Week 4 loss at the Detroit Lions.
Carter was one of two players who sustained injuries in that 34-10 loss that will have a long-term impact. Wide receiver Cedric Tillman suffered a hamstring injury as well that caused him to leave the game.
“Those injuries will keep them out in the weeks department,” Browns coach Kevin Stefanski said on a Sept. 29 Zoom call. “We’ll treat them, see how they recover. But we’ll be without them for a little bit.”
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Carter was injured with 4:04 remaining on the final Lions kickoff of the game. He had returned the kick 32 yards.
Carter had one punt return for no yards and three fair catches against Detroit, with a fumble he was able to recover on the one return. He averaged 25.8 yards on five kickoff returns in the game.
Dylan Sampson and Jerome Ford are among the players on the active roster who could return kicks, along with practice squad wide receiver Kaden Davis. Isaiah Bond previously returned punts in Week 2 against the Baltimore Ravens when Carter was sidelined with a concussion.
Although Carter was in the wide receiver position group, he didn’t play a single offensive snap through the first four games. Tillman, however, has been seen as the No. 2 wide receiver.
The third-year pro out of Tennessee has 11 catches for 106 yards and two touchdowns on 20 targets this season. Almost half of all of that production came into the opener against the Cincinnati Bengals, with five catches for 52 yards and a touchdown on eight targets.
That likely moves rookie Isaiah Bond up to the No. 2 wide receiver role. Bond is coming off a three-catch, 58-yard game in Detroit.
“Well, I think it starts with everybody just doing their job,” Stefanski said. “I think you’ve seen that, at times, this offense where guys are doing their job and we’re able to move it. Obviously with Ced out, like you mentioned, we’re going to need some guys to step up in that role and provide some value, both in the pass game and the run game.
“But those are things that we’ll work through. I really believe in the group we have in that room. We just have some guys that have to step up.”
Tillman suffered the injury during the second quarter of the loss in Detroit. He had played 15 offensive snaps with a 6-yard catch on two targets.
The biggest impact Tillman had in the game was a miscommunication on a route he was supposed to run on quarterback Joe Flacco’s first interception of the game. Tillman broke his route off after only a few yards, while Flacco thought he was supposed to run deep.
“Yeah, I thought he was going,” Flacco said after the game. “I was in the wrong, not him.”
Tillman’s career has been riddled with injury issues. There was a concussion suffered in Week 12 against the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2024 that cost him the final six games, as well as a concussion in the season finale at the Bengals in Week 18 as a rookie that prevented him from playing in the AFC wild card game.
Tillman’s played 29 career games with 13 starts, catching 61 passes for 669 yards and five touchdowns.
Chris Easterling can be reached at ceasterling@thebeaconjournal.com. Read more about the Browns at www.beaconjournal.com/sports/browns. Follow him on X at @ceasterlingABJ
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Browns WR DeAndre Carter going on injured reserve due to knee, Cedric Tillman out ‘weeks’
Reporting by Chris Easterling, Akron Beacon Journal / Akron Beacon Journal
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