The injury that sidelined Dominique Easley for the final year of his college football career is currently costing him in the NFL.
Easley, who was selected by the New England Patriots in the first round of the NFL Draft in May, is still rehabbing the surgically repaired ACL in his right knee.
The former Gators defensive end was expected to miss much of the Patriots’ camp due to his injury, but the lack of practice forced the team to leave him in Foxboro, Mass., while it travels for joint practices and preseason games.
According to the Boston Herald, Easley has not been cleared to play and will stay home while the Patriots and the Washington Redskins hold a joint practice in Virginia.
The 6-foot-2, 290-pound defensive end is cleared to participate in New England’s practice on Saturday.
Easley partook in the team’s minicamp in June and has been restricted to conditioning work during training camp. He is now expected to miss games during the regular season.
If he remains on the non-football injury list through the final round of roster cuts, he’ll likely miss at least the first six games of the year.
The Patriots are committed to having Easley at 100 percent health and therefore will not rush his recovery.
Joe Haden believes Browns’ defense becoming above average: The Cleveland Browns believe their defense can be very special this season.
A leader of that defense is Pro-Bowl cornerback Joe Haden who has led the Browns defensive unit since he was drafted out of Florida in 2010.
Haden, who starred on Urban Meyer’s 2008 national championship squad, has fully bought into Browns’ head coach Mike Pettine and his defensive focus.
“I’ve never really had a defensive-minded coach before,” Haden said. “He’s in there for the defensive installs, he’s installing our defense for us as the head coach and I’ve never had that before. I really like that.”
Pettine, who was previously the Buffalo Bills defensive coordinator in 2013, accepted the Cleveland head coaching position on January 23.
Having a head coach that thinks defense first is a new concept for the Browns organization. The new direction has Haden ready to step up his game to an elite level.
Haden, who is arguably one of the best cornerbacks in the NFL next to Richard Sherman and Patrick Peterson, has ambitions to lead the Browns over the hump of a long-standing losing tradition.
Riley Cooper to miss first preseason game: Catching footballs from the JUGS pitching machine in practice is normal, but doing it while wearing a walking boot is unusual.
Former Gator and current Philadelphia Eagles wide receiver Riley Cooper was wearing a pressure boot to protect his right ankle and has been ruled out to play the team’s preseason opener against the Chicago Bears on Friday.
According to Cooper, his ankle is nothing more than a tweak, but the Eagles are treating it carefully since the team’s other top receiver, Jeremy Maclin, has been wearing a boot as well.
Cooper has had the nagging ankle injury for about a week, and the Eagles will keep him out for another week or two until he reaches a full recovery.
Eagles head coach Chip Kelly doesn’t believe Cooper’s ankle injury is nothing serious and the boot is there as “just a preventable thing.”
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Dominique Easley (2) pushes through two opposing players during Florida’s 31-17 win against Tennessee on Sept. 21 in Ben Hill Griffin Stadium.
