While Cleveland Browns linebacker Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah hasn’t played a snap since 2024, questions about his NFL future continue to grow louder. He has remained out of Cleveland’s lineup since October 2024, when he suffered a devastating neck injury in a game due to a collision with Baltimore Ravens’ running back Derrick Henry. Now, after recent reports suggested the injury could end his career, Owusu-Koramoah put out a statement that did not offer any clarity on his situation.

“Someone catch me up on the news?” Owusu-Koramoah wrote in the caption of his recent Instagram Story.

While Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah wrote that message, along with a photo of himself casually sitting in a car, it could simply be a lighthearted response to heavy speculation surrounding his NFL career. Owusu-Koramoah had last played in the 2024 season and recorded three sacks and one interception through eight games in that season, while anchoring the Browns’ defense. Then came the frightening injury that changed JOK’s career trajectory.

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In the Week 8 game against the Ravens in 2024, what looked like a routine tackle attempt on Derrick Henry quickly turned alarming for Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah. At the point of contact, Owusu-Koramoah’s neck compressed visibly, and his body stiffened almost immediately as he fell to the turf with limited movement. 

Medical staff then immobilized Owusu-Koramoah on a board, carted him off the field, and transported him to the hospital for overnight observation. Thankfully, Owusu-Koramoah retained feeling in all of his extremities during the ambulance ride. At the time, many believed that he might still return to play for the Browns, but that optimism has faded ever since.

Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah missed the entire 2025 season while recovering from the injury. When the Browns announced in May last year that he would sit out the 2025 season, JOK addressed fans directly with a heartfelt message and suggested that he didn’t know if he’d ever come back to play football.

“To the Cleveland Browns fanbase and my supporters worldwide—thank you for your patience in my silence,” Owusu-Koramoah wrote in the statement last year. “From day one, you embraced me as more than a player, but also as a brother and young man with purpose. I’m grateful to the Browns organization for their full support, and to the world-class doctors guiding me through recovery. While I won’t suit up this season, I’m focused on what I can control — my healing, my mindset, and my faith.”

“The body may rest, but the calling never sleeps. I’ve given my heart to this game. I don’t know what’s next, but I’ll continue trusting my medical team, serving the community, and backing my brothers on the field. Love always, JOK.”

The Browns selected Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah as 52nd overall in the second round of the 2021 NFL Draft, and he made an immediate impact on the team’s defense. JOK started 20 of his first 25 NFL games and recorded 76 and 70 tackles, respectively, in his first two seasons. Then, in 2023, he elevated his game to another level as he racked up 101 tackles, 3.5 sacks, and two interceptions across 16 games. 

While 2023 was his breakout year, it earned Owusu-Koramoah Pro Bowl alternate honors and helped him secure a contract extension designed to make him a cornerstone of Cleveland’s defense. It makes the current uncertainty regarding Owusu-Koramoah’s NFL career even more difficult to process.

Is Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah’s career in the NFL really over?

While the Browns placed Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah on the physically unable to perform list before the 2025 season, there was still hope that he could make a late-season return or perhaps a comeback in 2026. However, Mary Kay Cabot of Cleveland.com just painted a far more concerning picture regarding Owusu-Koramoah’s NFL career.

“Owusu-Koramoah, who suffered a serious neck injury in a violent collision with Ravens running back Derrick Henry on Oct. 27, 2024, is doubtful at best to ever make it back to the playing field, a league source tells cleveland.com,” Cabot reported in a recent article.

Cabot also revealed that once doctors placed him on a backboard and carted Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah off following the injury in 2024, it was immediately feared that the injury could alter his NFL career permanently. Those fears resurfaced when Browns’ linebacker Jordan Hicks spoke about JOK’s situation shortly after it happened.

“We understand the risks that come with it (football), but at the end of the day, you see something like that, and it’s real life. It puts things into perspective. We hope, and we pray he [JOK] makes a miraculous recovery,” Hicks said in an interview back in November 2024.

While neck and spine injuries carry a different level of concern, even after sixteen months, multiple surgeries, and intensive rehab, Owusu-Koramoah’s outlook reportedly hasn’t improved enough to suggest a safe return to football.

In August 2024, Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah signed a three-year extension deal with the Browns worth $12.5 million annually, including $20 million fully guaranteed. So, JOK remains under contract with the Browns through 2027. Financially, the Browns secured him, but physically, nothing feels certain about JOK. For now, the Browns stay guarded with information regarding JOK’s injury, while fans wait, hoping for clarity – and above all, for his full recovery.