Denzel Ward

The Browns will play without cornerback Denzel Ward for the first time this season when they host the Bears on Sunday.

The Browns will play without cornerback Denzel Ward for the first time this season when they host the Bears on Sunday.

Ward did not practice at any point this week since suffering the injury in Week 14. He certainly could be a candidate for an IR shut down with the Browns eliminated from the playoffs. Ward has had the worst PFF coverage grade of his career so far in 2025, at 54.4 in 701 defensive snaps.

Kevin Stefanski had no update on Ward's status on Monday, but the rule-out was not encouraging. We'll monitor his practice status, but we imagine he's likely on the doubtful side of questionable for Week 15 at this point.

Ward was listed with a migraine on the Browns' Wednesday injury report. It doesn't seem like his migraine is tied to any concussion or head injury, so we would expect Ward to be able to recover and play in Week 13 against the 49ers. Also not practicing defensively for the Browns were DE Alex Wright (quad) and DT Adin Huntington (quad). Both Wright and Huntington are in jeopardy of missing Week 13, though practice reports later in the week will provide clarity.