Kevin Stefanski: Amari Cooper Will Be Good to Go for Training Camp
Dating back to April, the Cleveland Browns have been deliberate with their approach to wide receiver Amari Cooper. With Cooper recovering from core muscle surgery he had in February, the expectation that was the team would be aiming for training camp rather than OTAs and minicamp. At the team's golf outing to support the Browns Foundation, head coach Kevin Stefanski confirmed that was their plan.
Cooper did not practice at all the first week of OTAs. This week, he's going to start getting on the field. In other words, he will likely do some individual drills, maybe a little work on air, but nothing competitive at this point. The Browns want him to be full go when they open up training camp.
Part of this has to do with the Browns calendar. Since the Browns will be playing in this year's Hall of Fame game, they have a week less to work in June because they arrive a week early in July. It's all the more incentive not to push Cooper.
Additionally, that provides the Browns an opportunity to look at their younger wide receivers. David Bell is preparing for his second season. The team traded for Elijah Moore and then drafted Cedric Tillman in April.
Tillman is the player that projects to Cooper's role the best. He's a true X. Ideally, Tillman is the heir apparent to Cooper, who is likely in Cleveland for this year and next. Being patient with Cooper's recovery allows the Browns to get extra time to evaluate what they have in Tillman, see how quickly he can adjust on the fly and start developing plans for they plan to utilize him in training camp.
Cooper and Deshaun Watson will want to get a ton of reps to build chemistry, but the team isn't going to run Cooper into the ground. He will get some lighter days that could provide Tillman opportunities to get on the field and work with Watson, assuming Tillman shows the coaching staff he's ready to step in and contribute.
