{"id":645821,"date":"2026-01-01T15:41:17","date_gmt":"2026-01-01T15:41:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/645821\/"},"modified":"2026-01-01T15:41:17","modified_gmt":"2026-01-01T15:41:17","slug":"harold-fannin-jr-not-ruled-out-for-week-18-with-groin-injury","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/645821\/","title":{"rendered":"Harold Fannin Jr. not ruled out for Week 18 with groin injury"},"content":{"rendered":"<p dir=\"ltr\"><a href=\"https:\/\/clutchpoints.com\/nfl\/cleveland-browns\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Cleveland Browns<\/a> rookie tight end Harold Fannin Jr. is still in play for Week 18 despite a lingering groin injury that kept him out after Week 17.<\/p>\n<p>Browns coach Kevin Stefanski praised Fannin\u2019s commitment to rehab, noting that he <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/ceasterlingABJ\/status\/2006419500208476431\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">missed Wednesday\u2019s practice but has not been ruled out<\/a> for the season finale against the Cincinnati Bengals, per Chris Easterling of the Akron Beacon Journal.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\"><a href=\"https:\/\/clutchpoints.com\/nfl\/cleveland-browns\/browns-news-harold-fannin-jr-added-to-injury-report-after-hurting-groin-at-practice\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Fannin initially injured his groin<\/a> during Friday&#8217;s practice before Week 17 and was listed as questionable for the game against the Pittsburgh Steelers. He aggravated the injury on a 28-yard touchdown catch from QB Shedeur Sanders in the first quarter and had to leave early, missing the second half of Cleveland\u2019s 13-6 victory.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Fannin skipped the first Week 18 practice on Wednesday and was listed as DNP on the injury report alongside TE David Njoku, who is sidelined with a knee issue.<\/p>\n<p>With two practices left before the game, his status will depend on his progress, though the <a href=\"https:\/\/clutchpoints.com\/nfl\/nfl-stories\/nfl-playoff-picture-standings-final-regular-season-matchups\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Browns, already eliminated from playoff contention<\/a>, may take a cautious approach.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">The third-round rookie has emerged as an important target for Sanders, leading the team\u2019s tight ends with strong chemistry. The 21-year-old has recorded six touchdowns in the regular season.<\/p>\n<p>In Fannin\u2019s absence, backups Blake Whiteheart, Brenden Bates, and Sal Cannella have filled in. His potential return would strengthen an offense that relies heavily on his receiving ability, particularly against a Bengals defense that has allowed big plays to tight ends.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Although the Browns\u2019 matchup with Cincinnati has no playoff implications, Fannin\u2019s availability matters for depth as multiple players deal with injuries.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Cleveland Browns rookie tight end Harold Fannin Jr. is still in play for Week 18 despite a lingering&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":645822,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2054],"tags":[86,85,54,2337,7,6,30382],"class_list":{"0":"post-645821","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cleveland-browns","8":"tag-browns","9":"tag-cleveland","10":"tag-cleveland-browns","11":"tag-clevelandbrowns","12":"tag-football","13":"tag-nfl","14":"tag-nfl-injury"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115820605590586231","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/645821","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=645821"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/645821\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/645822"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=645821"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=645821"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=645821"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}