Browns young star Harold Fannin Jr. drops major injury clarity as Cleveland begins training camp
The star tight end was dealing with an injury that required surgery. Now, Harold Fannin Jr. has a promising update as the Browns begin training camp.
The Cleveland Browns opened training camp media availability Wednesday in Berea, Ohio, and tight end Harold Fannin Jr. provided major injury clarity on what he was going through.
Fannin revealed he had offseason surgery related to the groin injury he suffered during his rookie season, according to cleveland.com’s Mary Kay Cabot.
The 2025 third-round pick missed the bulk of OTAs recovering from the undisclosed procedure, but the good news is significant. Fannin said he’ll be full go for training camp and was fully cleared about two weeks ago. That timeline lines up with recent footage of the young tight end working out, running routes, and catching passes.
Fannin’s rookie production set the stage
Cleveland is going to heavily rely on Fannin this season, and for good reason. As a rookie, Fannin led the Browns in receiving with 72 catches, 731 receiving yards, and six touchdowns across 16 games. He looked like a top-10 tight end in the NFL and gave the front office confidence to move on from longtime Cleveland tight end David Njoku, who signed with the Los Angeles Chargers in free agency.
Fannin’s rise as a third-round pick made that transition possible, and the Browns are now banking on him to take an even bigger role in 2026 despite adding more talent around him.
Full health sets up a big Year 2
With 90 players in Berea battling for 53 roster spots, Fannin being fully healthy and ready for a complete training camp is a key development for the Browns. He played through the groin issue for a stretch of his rookie year, and having the surgery behind him should allow him to build on what was already an impressive debut.
A fully healthy Fannin could push into the upper tier of NFL tight ends this season. Time will tell how the workload shakes out with Cleveland’s revamped skill group, but Fannin getting cleared and ramping up with his teammates from the start of camp is exactly the news the Browns needed heading into the 2026 season.