It took a few weeks, but Mike Hall Jr. is finally talking about the hit that knocked him out of Browns camp. Back in early August, Quinshon Judkins delivered a blindside block on Hall during a practice period, and Hall subsequently vanished from the field for what's been reported as nearly 3 weeks with an undisclosed injury. Cleveland fans noticed. Cleveland fans asked questions. Until now, Hall hadn't said a word about it publicly.
#Browns DT Mike Hall Jr. addresses for the 1st time Quinshon Judkins' blindisde block and Hall's subsequent 10-day absence with an undisclosed injury: 'That's my brother at the end of the day' ---> t.co/hqzNVOqnUB
Mary Kay Cabot got the first real comment out of Hall, and it's about as low-key as it gets. "That's my brother at the end of the day" is not the language of a guy nursing a grudge. It tracks, too — Hall and Judkins came up together at Ohio State before landing on the same Browns defense-meets-backfield, Hall as a 2024 second-round pick and Judkins as Cleveland's 2025 second-rounder out of the Buckeyes' backfield. Teammates who shared a locker room in Columbus before doing it again in the pros tend to let this stuff go.
That doesn't erase how weird the whole situation looked from the outside. A non-contact camp period turning into an absence that stretched close to 3 weeks is a strange gap for a team to explain, and Cleveland never got specific about what exactly was wrong with Hall beyond calling it undisclosed. Head coach Todd Monken reportedly labeled the block itself "a mistake" and had a direct conversation with Judkins about it, which tells you the staff wasn't just brushing this off as a normal camp rep gone sideways.
Browns DT Mike Hall moves past training-camp incident with RB Quinshon Judkins that apparently caused Hall to miss nearly three weeks of practice. t.co/kAuJUV3frO
ProFootballTalk framing it as Hall "moving past" the incident is really the headline here — this wasn't a story with a villain, just a bad-luck collision that happened to sideline a rotational D-lineman for a chunk of camp. Hall was back on the practice field by mid-August and has stayed available since, which matters for a Browns defensive tackle room that needs him healthy and productive after a rookie season that saw him play in 8 games.
For Judkins, the incident is a footnote compared to what he's trying to build as Cleveland's lead back — the team's 2025 second-round investment at running back doesn't need a highlight reel of him accidentally clocking his own DT going viral for the wrong reasons. Both guys have bigger things to worry about than a drill gone wrong in August, and with the regular season here, that's exactly where this story lands: closed, filed under mishap, brothers at the end of the day.