CLEVELAND — After falling to 3-3 with Sunday's 37-14 loss to the Arizona Cardinals, the Cleveland Browns now know that they'll be without a key member of their offense for at least next three weeks. On Monday, Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski revealed that Cleveland is likely placing Kareem Hunt on injured reserve after the running back suffered a calf injury in Sunday's Week 6 defeat.
Stefanski said that Hunt's calf injury is "significant' and he expects him to miss more than three games.
In going on injured reserve, Hunt would miss at least the Browns' next three games, starting with this Thursday's matchup with the Denver Broncos at FirstEnergy Stadium. After that, Cleveland will host the Pittsburgh Steelers on Oct. 31 before returning to the road to face the Cincinnati Bengals on Nov. 7.
At the earliest, Hunt would be eligible to return for the Browns' Nov. 14 road matchup against the New England Patriots.
Starting in place of Nick Chubb, who missed Sunday's matchup against Arizona with a calf injury of his own, Hunt suffered the injury on a play in which wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. dropped a pass on a fourth-and-4 from the Cardinals' seven-yard line, resulting in a turnover on downs. After being helped off the field by a pair of trainers, apparently unable to put any weight on his right leg, a visibly upset Hunt was carted back to the locker room.
Should Chubb be unable to return in time for Thursday's primetime game against Denver, D'Ernest Johnson would serve as the Browns' lead running back, with rookie Demetric Felton being the only other running back currently on Cleveland's active roster.