Written by Thomas Moore

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Cleveland Browns linebacker Chris Gocong suffered a torn Achilles tendon in his right leg during Saturday morning's practice in Berea and is done for the season.

“I’m disappointed he got hurt,” Browns coach Pat Shurmur said. “He was out there practicing and Achilles injuries sometimes pop up on you. They really don’t look all that bad. He stepped wrong and it happened. “I talked to Chris and he’s fine. We’re moving on and he understands that. My hope now is he gets back healthy quickly.”

Gocong was defending a pass to tight end Jordan Cameron and fell to the ground after planting his leg.

Gocong was entering his third season with the Browns after coming over from Philadelphia. He has started every game the past two seasons, posting 145 tackles and 5.5 sacks. He also moved to fill in at Scott Fujita's position last year when Fujita was injured.

The Browns will be without two of their starting linebackers for the first three games as Fujita is suspended for the first three games of the season.

You never want to see anyone injured - especially a starter - but if it has to happen, better now than during the season. The Browns now have the rest of training camp and all of the preseason to work on finding Gocong's replacement - most likely either fourth-year player Kaluka Maiava or rookie James Michael-Johnson.

“It’s a great opportunity for some other guys behind him to get in there and play and get more reps,” Shurmur said. “I want to make sure the guys that fill in for him get plenty of reps and I think we’ve got plenty of time to do that. We’ve got four preseason games and plenty of practices here. Whoever ends up filling his role will have plenty of opportunities to improve.”

Welcome to Cleveland James Haslam. You didn't happen to bring any outside linebackers with you, did you?