The Browns’ season will continue. Unfortunately, for Olivier Vernon, the season is over. The defensive end has torn his Achilles, head coach Kevin Stefanski announced.
The veteran went down late in the season finale and had to be helped off the field. After a sideline check, he was carted to the locker room, signaling something serious. Vernon is now set for surgery and an uncertain future. He’ll be an unrestricted free agent in March, thanks to the reworking of his deal that bars the Browns from tagging him.
Vernon posted just 3.5 sacks in 2019, but the advanced metrics were fairly fond of his work. And, before Vernon came to Cleveland, he managed 22 sacks over the course of three years with the Giants, despite a good deal of missed games. This year, he stepped up things up with nine sacks, his highest posting since 2013. He’s been red hot too — all of his sacks came after Week 8.
With the Steelers on the horizon, the Browns will be banking even more on star Myles Garrett for pressure on the edge.
That late injury has just cost this young man at least $20 million. Vernon will have trouble getting many guarantees on future contracts based on his injury history (which wouldn’t have looked that bad, if it weren’t for this injury). Sad to see Vernon lose out. Dak Prescott also bet on himself: a risky business.
Jerry will pay Dak
Terrible thing for OV he was having a great season and a big part of the D. Really enjoyed watching him play this year