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BEREA, Ohio -- The last thing you'd think the Browns would need this year was a punter.

Think again.

They are trying out punters Wednesday to find a replacement for Reggie Hodges, who is out for the season after tearing his left Achilles tendon during Tuesday's practice. Hodges was the only punter in camp.

The market for veteran punters is very thin after flurry of activity last week saw the signings of Daniel Sepulveda (Pittsburgh), Sav Rocca (Washington), Brad Maynard (Houston) and Matt Turk (Jacksonville). Bay Village native Dave Zastudil, who preceded Hodges as the Browns' punter the previous four years, suffered a slight muscle pull in a tryout with Houston and is currently unavailable.

Coach Pat Shurmur indicated the team may have to bring in an untested rookie punter via tryout and then wait for the veteran market to reopen before settling on a replacement for Hodges.

"We're going to look for the best possible replacement that we can and we're going to quickly address that," Shurmur said after Tuesday afternoon's walk-through. "We'll have some guys in [Wednesday] and try to find the best possible guy we can find at this time, and then we're going to keep searching for the guy that's going to be our punter."

One of those trying out will be Rob Long, whose senior season at Syracuse ended prematurely when he was treated for brain cancer. Long had brain surgery in December and received radiation and chemotherapy for six weeks in January and February. His treatments ended March 2.

Hodges leaves big shoes to fill. He had a career year in 2010, his first in Cleveland and in the NFL as a team's undisputed punter. Hodges had a gross average of 43.9 yards on 78 punts. His net of 39.0 was ninth in the league and his 29 punts inside the 20 were tied for eighth.

He also had a 68-yard run on a fake punt in the Browns' upset win in New Orleans. It was the team's longest run of the season. He was named AFC special teams player of the week after grossing 48.7 yards on nine punts in a win over Miami, including boomers of 56, 58 and 59 yards. So he had played a big part in two of the Browns' five wins last year.

Prior to the Miami game, Hodges was rewarded with a two-year contract extension -- his first multi-year deal. The Browns were his eighth team in a nomadic NFL career that began in 2005. He spent the next two years out of the league, selling copy machines.

The humble Hodges said of the new contract at the time, "If anything, it turns [the pressure] up even better. They're saying, 'Reggie, you can be our guy.' That just makes me feel like, 'OK, let me get better for you.' [The contract's] an accomplishment, something me and my wife and kids have been striving for, having a little security. But I'll continue to work hard."

Shurmur talked to Hodges after the morning practice.

"He was noticeably disappointed," he said. "I told him in this business, there's times when you get injured. Part of being a pro is fighting back from injury and then getting yourself in a position where you can play once again and I think he's the kind of guy who can get that done."

Long snapper Ryan Pontbriand said he couldn't concentrate the rest of the practice period after watching Hodges go down.

"He was the punter. He was the starter," he said. "We only have one in camp so he's very valuable. He's responsible for turning the field over, giving us momentum, pinning them deep and he was one of the top five, I think, inside the 20 and that's huge on game day."

Hodges also doubled as the holder on Phil Dawson's placekicks. So that's another role that must be filled.

On Twitter: @TonyGrossi