Browns lose LB, cut snapper

Associated Press

CLEVELAND

The cold and cruel side of business in the NFL caught up with Ryan Pontbriand.

He won’t get a chance to snap out of his slump.

The Browns waived their once dependable long snapper on Tuesday, two days after Pontbriand’s second poor snap in three weeks cost Cleveland another possible win. A two-time Pro Bowler, Pontbriand had been with the Browns since 2003 and had the second-longest tenure on the club to kicker Phil Dawson.

“Today, I lost a longtime teammate, Ryan Pontbriand,” Dawson wrote on his Twitter page. “He has been with me more than any teammate I have had. I will miss him.

“He is the best.”

But he’s been uncharacteristically erratic this season, and the Browns (4-7) ran out of patience with Pontbriand.

“We can’t slump,” Browns first-year coach Pat Shurmur said Monday, hinting the team was on the verge of releasing Pontbriand. “We can’t be in slumps. I think it’s important that we all perform and we’ve got to perform all the time. You hold me to that standard, I think the players hold themselves to that and then I know individually they do as well.”

Pontbriand will be replaced by Christian Yount, an undrafted rookie from UCLA who played seven games with Tampa Bay. Young was waived Oct. 25 by the Buccaneers when they activated their primary long snapper from an injury list.

It was a busy day off for the Browns, who also placed linebacker Scott Fujita and defensive end Emmanuel Stephens on injured reserve, losing two starters from a unit with little depth.

Fujita broke his right hand in two places Sunday and will have surgery later this week. It’s the second straight season the 32-year-old has had ended by injury. Last year, Fujita missed Cleveland’s final seven games after straining a knee ligament.

Fujita will be hard to replace. He has experience, a solid grasp of Cleveland’s defensive scheme and is one of the team’s leaders — on and off the field. He was third on the team with 51 tackles.

“It’s a big loss for us,” said linebacker D’Qwell Jackson. “It’s a great confidence having him out there, a 10-, 11-year vet. But other guys have to step up.”