Oct 29, 2008 - 4:59 PM
0 shoutsBEREA, Ohio (Ticker) -- Cleveland Browns coach Romeo Crennel sounded pessimistic about the possibility of wide receiver Joe Jurevicius returning this season.
Jurevicius has been on the physically unable to perform list since the beginning of the season after undergoing arthroscopic knee surgery in January. His situation was complicated when he went through three additional surgeries to clean out a staph infection in the knee.
"We will be coming out with a statement about Joe maybe toward the end of the week or the beginning of next about what his status is, but generally it does not look good," Crennel said.
In his 11th season in the NFL, Jurevicius is signed with the Browns through 2009. He had said that he would consider retiring if he had stayed healthy this season.
Jurevicius had hoped to be ready for the start of training camp, but went through a procedure to clean out the staph infection in July.
Staph infections have become a major issue for the Browns as tight end Kellen Winslow Jr. became the sixth Cleveland player in recent years to be infected.
"I guarantee you we've probably spent more and more time and more energy to try to combat the issue," Browns general manager Phil Savage told the Cleveland Plain Dealer. "We would open the doors and windows and people can come in and do any check they want to do because we've been given a clean bill of health."
Jurevicius has 323 career receptions for 4,119 yards and 29 touchdowns. The Penn State product won a Super Bowl with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2002.
