The wait is finally over. Cleveland Browns rookie defensive tackle Mike Hall Jr.will make his NFL debut this weekend against the Philadelphia Eagles.
Head coach Kevin Stefanski announced the news during his annual Friday press conference. Hall has been out since the start of the season after first being placed on the commissioners exempt list and then finishing out a five game suspension. The Ohio State product received the punishment as part of a violation of the personal conduct policy, stemming from a domestic dispute back in August.
The incident involved Hall’s fiancée and mother of Hall’s son at a home in Avon, Ohio, who accused Hall, via a police report, of dragging her out of the house by her hair to the end of the driveway after the two were in a verbal altercation over her daughter, whom Hall is not the biological father. The report claimed Hall actually pushed the child and struck her with a baby bottle. His fiancée also claimed that Hall put a gun to her head and told her, “I will (expletive) end it all, but she wound up recanting that portion of the story.
In a court proceeding in Avon Municipal Court back on Sept. 19, Hall entered a plea of “no contest” to a reduced charge of disorderly conduct. The presiding judge handed him a 30-day suspended jail sentence, a $250 fine and two years of monitored time.
Several weeks later, with the case resolved legally, the NFL announced that Hall would be given a five game suspension with time served. That left him needing to sit out last weekend to fulfill the punishment.
It’s unclear at this time what corresponding move the Browns have planned to make Hall active on the 53-man roster. Along with Hall, Cleveland has several players potentially poised for a return off the IR this week and listed as questionable for Sunday. Any roster moves will come down Saturday 24 hours before kickoff.
A 2024 second-round pick for the Browns, Hal is expected to be a rotational player along the defensive line in Jim Schwartz’s defense. The 21-year-old finished his college tenure with 45 tackles, six sacks, and 11 tackles for loss. What his role looks like in his first ever game remains to be seen.
