D'Qwell Jackson the Latest Cleveland Brown Bitten by Injury Bug

Every year it seems to be the same thing around NFL training camps: players going down with injuries, some of them season-ending.

As a Browns fan, it seems to me that the Browns get the worst of that trend, but that's probably just personal bias.

Between LeCharles Bentley a few years ago and the rash of training camp injuries this year, every Browns fan probably just wants to hide at the bottom of a glass of beer for the moment.

D'Qwell Jackson may have suffered a season-ending pectoral muscle tear during practice last evening. It's not the muscle he tore last year, but the effect will be the same if it is as bad as feared.

Eric Wright pulled up lame with an apparent hamstring injury, and speculation is rookie Joe Haden will be getting the start this weekend versus the Packers.

These injuries are in addition to Montario Hardesty's twisted knee, Dave Zastudil's repaired but ailing patellar tendon, plus the usual batch of bumps and bruises.

The effect these injuries may have down the road isn't clear because the team is in such a state of transition.

Jackson had a good year in 2008, but missed most of last season with a torn pectoral muscle. Head coach Eric Mangini had praised Jackson for having a good camp, though, so to say there won't be some kind of impact would be naive.

However, one thing the front office did a good job on during the offseason was building more depth into the lineup. The Browns aren't the New England Patriots of the early 2000s, but they definitely have a little more to work with this year than they did last year.

Mangini has plenty of options at linebacker at this point, and Haden was drafted specifically to upgrade the secondary and become a starter.

Fortunately there have been no major injuries to key players on the offense, and by all accounts, the offense looks much sharper this year.

The first part of camp is winding down soon, and we'll soon have a preseason game to pick apart, and hopefully cheer.

The AFC North is going to be one of the NFL's most interesting divisions to watch this year as the Browns are a great unknown, the Steelers look to be a team on the decline, while the Bengals need to prove last year wasn't a fluke.

The Ravens are the only team in the division that seem to be a lock for any postseason berth, but with Ozzie Newsome as their general manager, this is not surprising.

Football is getting a little closer, and hopefully the injury bug will move on to another team now.