The Cleveland Browns won’t have one of their best players on the field this season.

As a matter of fact, they don’t know when he’ll be back out there, and it may never happen.

Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah’s scary neck injury has been one of the biggest talking points for months now, and there are no clear updates, timelines, or even guarantees about his potential return.

Nevertheless, even if he’s not on the field, defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz recently claimed that he would still be a part of the team.

According to a report by Mary Kay Cabot of Cleveland.com, Schwartz still expects the injured linebacker to be around the team:

“The game had slowed down for [Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah] and all those things together, it’s disappointing to lose a player like that, but we support JOK and everything that he does. He’ll still have a big impact on our team this year. It’s not going to be playing, but he’ll still have a big presence,” Schwartz said.

Owusu-Koramoah broke out as one of the best linebackers in the game in Schwartz’s first season as defensive coordinator, and he was taking his game to the next level before sustaining that gruesome and career-threatening injury.

The fact that the Browns took UCLA star Carson Schwesinger with the first pick of the second round of the 2025 NFL Draft hinted at a prolonged absence for Owusu-Koramoah, who’s not going to be able to play a single snap this season.

Some believe that even if he eventually gets cleared to play, he shouldn’t put his health and life at risk, and that he’s already played his final snap in the league.

He will most definitely cross that bridge once – or if – he gets there.

But for now, we can only hope for his speedy and full recovery.

This is bigger than football, and there’s nothing more important than health.