Browns’ quarterback Robert Griffin III could practice this week

 After suffering a shoulder injury in Week 1, Robert Griffin III could get back on the practice field for the Cleveland Browns this week.

The Cleveland Browns are 0-10 this season, with an 0-16 finish very possible, due in part to a litany of quarterback injuries basically from the start. Robert Griffin III suffered a left shoulder injury late in a Week 1 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles, but there has been a lingering chance he could return to action at some point this season basically from the beginning.

Mary Kay Cabot of the Cleveland Plain Dealer was first to report Monday’s comments from Browns’ vice president Sashi Brown, suggesting Griffin could play again before the season is over. Now, Griffin may return to the practice field this week.

Griffin suffered a fractured caracoid bone in his left shoulder on that first Sunday of the regular season, but he did not require surgery that would have been season-ending. Griffin has missed nine games since being placed on injured reserve in the week after the season opener, which is already beyond the required minimum of eight games a player has to miss to be eligible to return under the league’s new injured reserve rule.

Once Griffin returns to the practice field, the Browns will have 21 days to make a final decision to active him or just keep him on IR. The longer end of that time frame would put a return after Cleveland’s Week 13 bye in play, when the Cincinnati Bengals come to town on Dec. 11.

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Griffin’s future in Cleveland is at best uncertain, along with plenty of others throughout the organization right now. So an audition for the other 31 teams over the final few games this season may be coming, and Griffin could at least bring some excitement to the “Factory of Sadness” during the month of December.