Browns safety Ed Reynolds will be sidelined up to six weeks after suffering an MCL sprain during Saturday’s training camp session. Adam Schefter of ESPN reported and confirmed the injury first. 

Head coach Hue Jackson told reporters after Sunday’s practice that it was a knee injury but that it wasn’t the ACL which people feared after Reynolds left on Saturday.

Reynolds was competing for the free safety starting position prior to the injury. Now it’s unclear where his spot on the roster will stand once he returns. By the time he does return, it’ll be right before the season opener on September 10.

Reynolds played in ten games (seven starts) last season for the Browns. He had 40 tackles and a sack.

Now the competition for that spot is wide open. 

Derrick Kindred has been getting the first team reps during the first several days of camp, which I thought was odd because he was a strong safety during his college career at TCU and during his rookie season last year.

With Gregg Williams’ style of defense though, he likes guys who can play multiple positions so having Kindred able to play both safety positions is a plus moving forward.

The one guy I expect to make a jump now for that position is undrafted rookie Kai Nacua out of BYU. There was rave reviews about him after the Browns picked him after the draft. Nacua had 14 interceptions during his time at BYU which was the fourth most in school history. With Reynolds out, I’d expect Nacua to get an fair shot at this job throughout training camp and preseason. 

Also watch for veteran Jason McCourty to be a potential starter. If Williams wants the best four defensive backs out on the field in the base defense, it would make sense to play McCourty at free safety with Joe Haden and Jamar Taylor at the cornerback positions.