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Browns lose punter, look for replacement
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Photo
Cleveland Browns placekicker Phil Dawson (4) boots a 41-yard field goal out of the hold of punter Reggie Hodges (2) late in the fourth quarter during their NFL football game against the Carolina Panthers on Sunday, Nov. 28, 2010, in Cleveland. The kick proved to be the game-winner in the Browns' 24-23 win.
Combined dispatches
BEREA
The Cleveland Browns will hold a tryout today in their quest to find punter Reggie Hodges’ successor, coach Pat Shurmur said hours after Hodges was lost for the season with a torn left Achilles’ tendon.
As practice wound down with special-teams drills Tuesday morning, Hodges caught a snap, planted his left foot and collapsed as he was preparing to punt. He was not touched by anyone before he fell.
“He just reached up, and the snap was about head high,” Shurmur said immediately after the morning session ended on a somber note. “He did something he’s done a million times.”
Trainers evaluated Hodges for a few moments as he sat on the ground. Then they carted him off the field as he held a towel over his face. He couldn’t put weight on his left leg when they escorted him into the team’s locker-room area.
“It’s terrible,” Browns long snapper Ryan Pontbriand said after practice. “I couldn’t even concentrate for the rest of the period. I don’t know what happened.”
Hodges will be scheduled for surgery, a team spokesman said.
“I saw him after practice before anything was confirmed,” Shurmur said after the team’s afternoon walk-through session. “But an injury like that you kind of know [it’s serious].”
All the news wasn’t bad from Browns camp on Tuesday.
Phil Taylor, the extra-large rookie defensive tackle from Baylor, who was the Browns’ first-round draft pick, ended a four-day holdout that was beginning to become worrisome. Terms of the deal were not immediately known.
Taylor, the No. 21 overall pick in this year’s NFL draft, will immediately report.
The 6-foot-3, 335-pounder missed the team’s first four practices of training camp in a holdout. The sticking point in negotiations was over a fourth guaranteed season for Taylor, who is expected to start in first-year Shurmur’s 4-3 system.
“He’s going to get in there,” Shurmur said. “When he gets in town, he’s going to get in there. That’s for sure.”
With Taylor in camp, all eight members of the Browns’ 2011 draft class are now signed.
“We are very happy that we were able to sign Phil and now have all eight draft picks under contract,” Browns general manager Tom Heckert said. “It was important to get him in here when we did, and I want to thank [agent] Peter Schaffer for all of his help in getting this deal done.”