BEREA – There was one player that Jerry Jeudy made clear he was looking forward to playing with once the Browns signed him in March.
Amari Cooper, also from South Florida and wide receiver at the University of Alabama.
“I’m excited to play with Coop,” Jeudy said during an introductory Zoom call in March. “Like I said, I’ve been watching him for a long time, and by watching him and studying him, I’ve become a better player. Now being next to him and hearing his opinion on things, how to run certain routes, is going to help me and have a huge impact on me. So I’m excited to see how this whole thing goes.”
The Browns will finish their offseason program in two weeks and training camp will begin in about four weeks, but Jeudy’s highly anticipated on-field encounter with Cooper has yet to happen, at least in front of outside witnesses.
Cooper did not attend any of the Browns’ voluntary OTAs and was then given a three-day penalty for missing mandatory minicamp. The 30-year-old veteran wide receiver, the first Browns wide receiver to record 1,000 yards as a pass receiver in back-to-back seasons, is hoping to earn a contract extension as he enters the final year of his deal.
Jeudy, meanwhile, received a three-year, $52.5 million contract extension from the Browns less than a week after being acquired in a trade from the Denver Broncos. He did not participate in the on-field portion of minicamp due to an unspecified injury.
So if you’ve been counting, those are the two best wide receivers projected for the Browns who were unable or unwilling to attend minicamp. Crucially, though, Jeudy was at least present in the building, so his absence from field practice was dismissed as a major issue at the time.
“It’s all a matter of timing,” quarterback Deshaun Watson said earlier this month. “Guys have to make sure they’re taking care of different things, and Jeudy is another guy that’s here mentally and doing mental drills but also taking care of his body. And the staff knows exactly what to do for him, and I can’t wait for us all to get together and do a lot of drills during training camp and especially this offseason. We’re all in the same area, so we’ll be good.”
Jeudy’s absence from the field at minicamp would have drawn attention even without Cooper’s presence. He is the crown jewel of the Browns’ offseason additions and has been highlighted frequently in discussions about the new offensive scheme being hatched by coach Kevin Stefanski and new offensive coordinator Ken Dorsey.
There has been a lot of talk about the new offense, and the passing game in particular, surrounding the use of “choice routes” where the receiver breaks in different ways depending on the play of the defender. Jeudy has been viewed as the receiver who could benefit the most from these choice routes, or at least the one who will be particularly emphasized by them.
“I mean, when it comes to choosing routes and other routes, it’s really time that you can spend on the field with the quarterback. That’s the most valuable thing you can do,” wide receivers coach Chad O’Shea said at the end of minicamp. “You know, we can show film, we can get the playbooks out and we can look at the playbooks and the drawings. But at the end of the day, the most important thing is that the quarterbacks are on the same page as the receivers, and the only way to do that is to get out on the field and work together.”
So wouldn’t Jeudy’s lack of playing time during minicamp be a cause for concern? Of course, the concern will be even greater if the injury continues to plague him well into training camp.
However, not being on the field means not seeing eye to eye with Watson, especially when route selection will be a key task assigned to Jeudy. Or is it, in reality, much ado about nothing, at least for now?
“Coach Stefanski structured our offseason program so that a player can take advantage of the walkthroughs and the time he structured for us,” O’Shea said. “So Jerry has made great progress in learning the offense and his teammates in an environment where he wasn’t necessarily on the field all the time.”
“So we took a lot from the great walkthroughs where he was very attentive and trying to learn the offense and the meeting room environment. There was a lot of communication with him and the quarterbacks to be on the same page. So it was really great to see that you don’t necessarily have to jump on the field every day to make progress, become a better player and help our team win.”
Reach Chris Easterling at [email protected]. Read more about the Browns at www.beaconjournal.com/sports/browns. Follow him on X at @ceasterlingABJ
This article originally appeared in the Akron Beacon Journal: Wide receiver Jerry Jeudy makes progress in Browns’ new offense
