Austin Hooper ruled out for Week 7, ‘could’ miss Week 8

Friday update: Hooper ‘could’ miss Week 8 against the Raiders after having surgery on his appendix, per NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport.

Friday update: Hooper’s illness was an appendectomy, which will keep him out of Week 7, per Mary Kay Cabot.

Friday update: Austin Hooper has been ruled out with an illness, per ESPN’s Jake Trotter. Trotter reports that the illness is not Covid-19 related, but it will keep him out of the matchup with Cincinnati. David Njoku is the likely starter over Harrison Bryant this week, but there is nothing official to confirm that. Njoku had one more target and a few more snaps in backing up Hooper last week though.

Cleveland Browns tight end Austin Hooper was not at practice during the open portion to journalists on Friday, per The Plain Dealler’s Mary Kay Cabot. Hooper has not been on the injury report this week, so he is either out for personal reasons or has an injury we will find out about a little later on Friday.

Hooper has slowly become a bigger part of the Browns offense this season and his absence against the Bengals would be a blow. If he does happen to miss the game, the news on tight end David Njoku, besides him wanting a trade, is good. Njoku is healthy and would likely be the lead tight end with Harrison Bryant just behind him.

We should hopefully be able to get a clearer understanding of this situation sooner than later, as the injury report will be out Friday afternoon.