Two Defensive Tackles Ruled Out for Sunday. The Browns Are Running Out of Interior.

Mike Hall Jr. and Maliek Collins are both out for the Jets game. Hall Jr. has been on the injury list, and Collins — the team's primary defensive tackle — has been dealing with a knee issue that dates back to last season. Neither will play Sunday.

The timing is familiar by now. This defensive line has been reshuffled so many times since August that it barely resembles what the front office drew up in the offseason. When Myles Garrett was traded in August, Bell, Verse, and Jenkins went from depth pieces to cornerstones overnight. Then Alex Wright ruptured his Achilles in a joint practice and ended up on season-ending IR. Derek Barnett came in as a replacement. The position has been held together with whatever was available, not what was planned.

What's left at defensive tackle against New York is a depth chart with Collins out and no established backup behind him who has logged meaningful snaps this season. The edge situation isn't much better — Barnett is the only defensive end with real playing time on the active roster. For a unit that was supposed to rebuild around Jared Verse's peer-validated talent, the interior is the part that keeps collapsing.

The Browns have been here before this season — short-handed up front, asking backups to hold the line. It hasn't worked consistently. Sunday will be another test of how thin a defensive front can get before it simply breaks.