What It Means:

Bryant received surgery on Tuesday and is currently working with a five-to-six month timetable, so an optimistic outlook would have him returning to the Browns late in the year. Xavier Cooper and rookie Carl Nassib appear to be the next men up after Bryant reportedly suffered the injury "late last week" during a workout. Cleveland's defense is going to be a unit to attack week in and week out while filling out rosters this season.

Bryant was the top lineman in Cleveland last year, leading the team with six sacks. As a whole, the Browns ranked 21st in the league in Adjusted Defensive Passing Net Expected Points (NEP). Prior to this report, our models had Bryant projected for 71 tackles and 8 sacks in 2016.