The Cleveland Browns have had trouble getting quarterback Deshaun Watson and wide receivers Amari Cooper, Jerry Jeudy and Elijah Moore on the field at the same time during practice. Could they do that in a preseason game?
Cleveland coach Kevin Stefanski said the Browns’ starting lineup “should expect to play in Saturday night’s final preseason game against the Seattle Seahawks.”
The three receivers missed training camp due to injuries, and Watson is returning from a shoulder injury that prevented him from playing in Cleveland’s final eight games of the 2023 season.
None of the four players played in the two previous preparation games.
Jeudy, who was signed in March via a trade from the Denver Broncos, said he did not expect the lack of practice time together to negatively impact the Browns’ passing attack when the regular season begins on Sept. 8.
“I think with the players we have here, it’s not going to slow us down at all,” Jeudy said. “You know, we’re very smart players, understand the game, understand the fundamentals of football, so I think it’s not going to hurt us at all. Once Game 1 comes around, hopefully we’ll all be on the field together.”
Selected as the 15th pick out of Alabama in the 2020 NFL Draft, Jeudy recorded 54 pass catches for 758 yards and two touchdowns in his fourth season with the Broncos, who sent him to Cleveland for fifth- and sixth-round picks in the 2024 draft.
Jeudy joined the Browns a year after they acquired Moore in a trade with the New York Jets and two years after they acquired Cooper in a trade with the Dallas Cowboys.
“It’s definitely phenomenal that we have all kinds of receivers out there, and I would say we’re all cut from the same cloth,” Cooper said. “We’re all from South Florida. We’re all really good route runners. We’ve all been playing football since a very young age, running routes since a very young age, so we have a natural feel for the position.”
“I think we will definitely influence each other in a positive way and there could definitely be fireworks out there this year.”
Unlike Jeudy and Moore, whose careers were not as productive as pre-draft evaluations suggested, Cooper is a five-time Pro Bowler and has rushed for 1,000 yards in seven seasons, including his career-high of 1,250 receiving yards in 2023.
“Amari is the OG when it comes to wide receivers,” Stefanski said. “They all admire him. They all respect him. When he talks, everyone listens. They watch how he works. He doesn’t have to say much, but the way he works has a big impact on our young players. … Jerry is an Alabama kid, Elijah is from Florida. Those guys really idolize Amari, and I think that shows in the way they work.”
Cooper was an All-American wide receiver for the Crimson Tide four years before Jeudy.
RELATED: ALABAMAS 10 BEST NFL RECEIVERS
“He helps me in a lot of ways,” Jeudy said of Cooper. “You know, Amari isn’t really a vocal guy. You just have to watch what he’s doing, so I just watch everything he does, how he runs his routes. He gives me little details and stuff. … I just watch him, see how he moves, how he runs his routes and stuff. If I have a question, I ask him. Sometimes he criticizes me for things and stuff.”
Cleveland will play the Seahawks at Lumen Field in Seattle on Sunday at 9 p.m. CDT. The NFL Network will televise the game.
The Browns begin their regular season on September 8th at 3:25 p.m. against the Dallas Cowboys at Cleveland Browns Stadium in Cleveland.
For more information about AL.COM’s NFL coverage, visit our NFL PAGE
Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at @AMarkG1.
