Cleveland Browns coach Freddie Kitchens indicated Monday that safety Damarious Randall's benching was likely for one game only.
"His status going forward is he'll come back this week and I'm assuming we'll do everything we need to do to be on the field,'' Kitchens said, according to Cleveland.com.
Randall, the team's starting free safety, was made inactive for Sunday's game against the Steelers for an unspecified violation, but ESPN's Jake Trotter reported that Randall missed a practice last week. The news was not announced until Saturday when Randall did not make the bus trip with his teammates to Pittsburgh.
Kitchens told reporters to "ask Damarious" why he was disciplined and said his conversations with the safety "stay between Damarious and I."
"Damarious has my trust,'' Kitchens said, according to Cleveland.com. "It has nothing to do with trust. I trust these guys as long as they show me they can be trustworthy, so moving forward I do not have a problem with Damarious."
The 27-year-old Randall, who was acquired by the Browns in a 2018 trade with the Green Bay Packers, is set to be a free agent after this season. He tied a career high with four interceptions and set a career best with 85 tackles last season, and made headlines when he gave former coach Hue Jackson a game ball after making an interception against the Cincinnati Bengals, the team Jackson joined after being fired by the Browns.
This season, Randall has recorded the first two sacks of his career and has 35 tackles in seven games.
