AP

Browns outside linebacker Barkevious Mingo was spitting up blood on the sideline during Cleveland’s preseason game against Detroit, and the team medical staff knew something was seriously wrong.

But after two nights in the hospital with a bruised lung, Mingo says he’s fine.

“I’m feeling really good,” he told the Cleveland Plain Dealer. “I’d rather be out there, but I’ve got to listen to the doctors and take it slow and easy. I was like this when I was in the hospital that night and I told them I was fine. But they’ve got the got the scans and they made the right call.”

One doctor told the Plain Dealer that the kind of injury Mingo suffered could have led to fatal blood loss if Mingo had tried to keep playing, so this injury was serious business. But while Mingo will miss the rest of the preseason, he sounds optimistic that he’ll be able to play when the season starts.