Brownie Bites: Amari Cooper’s minicamp absence unexcused; Deshaun Watson takes 7-on-7 reps

BEREA, Ohio (92.3 The Fan) – Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson took another step in his rehab progression as minicamp kicked off Tuesday morning, but he was without his top two targets.

Here’s the top Brownie Bites from Day 1 of minicamp.

Unexcused absence – Receiver Amari Cooper was absent from the start of minicamp and head coach Kevin Stefanski confirmed it is not excused. “These situations, I understand that they do come up,” Stefanski said. “I'll really leave all of that between Amari and Amari's agent AB [Andrew Berry] and those type of conversations. But again, as you guys know, we focus on guys that are here.” Cooper, who became the first receiver in franchise history to catch for over 1,000 yards in consecutive seasons, is in the final year of his contract that pays him $20 million, which ranks 20th at the position as receiver salaries have exploded this offseason. This offseason the Vikings broke the bank giving Justin Jefferson a $140 million extension with $110 million guaranteed and the highest annual value for a non-quarterback in the NFL at $35 million per year. Cooper’s absence could cost the receiver up to $101,716 – $16,953 for the first day, $33,908 for the second and another $50,855 for the third day of camp according to the collective bargaining agreement. “Amari is our brother, our teammate,” Watson said. “We support him and the decisions that he got to make for himself, but everyone in his locker room respect him and know exactly what he's about and whenever he gets back he's going to be ready to go.” In two seasons with the Browns, Cooper has caught 150 passes for 2,410 and 14 touchdowns while coming off his fifth Pro Bowl season in 2023. “He's the best in the game,” Watson said. “I believe that he shows it each and every year. He shows it the last two years with different quarterbacks, so I think you’ve got to put him up there, if not the best.” Watson plans to work out with Cooper and the other receivers during the break before training camp and is excited to hit Cooper for more big plays this fall. “There's no limit. There's no sky for us,” Watson said. “We can be as good as we want to be, and that's going to start with the work. It's going to start with the attention to details and going out there and executing each and every game.”

Another step – Watson threw in 7-on-7 Tuesday as his workload ramped up, but he is not expected to throw much on Wednesday before wrapping up the offseason program with another round of throwing on Thursday according to Stefanski. “I thought he looked good, made good decisions,” Stefanski said. “Again, you get mental reps when you're back there and then it's a little bit different when you're taking the snap from the center or in the shotgun or under center regardless. But I thought he did a nice job.” All signs point towards Watson being ready to roll Week 1. “It's truly a blessing,” Watson said. “Same a long way from something that was a big scare last year, something I never dealt with and something that most football players don't, especially as a quarterback, don't get to go through that type of surgery. But for me to be where I'm at today, it's definitely a blessing. More glory to that and it was fun to be able to get out there and compete.” Watson indicated he has not felt any pain or discomfort in his throwing shoulder that saw the glenoid repaired in late November. “I'm a self-confident person,” Watson said. “I know the work that I put in, I know the doctors and everybody that's been working with me and that's where it start and then when you get on the field you just got to go out there and do it and participate a little bit and see what you can do. Right now at this moment I'm only six and a half months out. Game one is not till another two and a half [months], 90 something days. So I'm in a very comfortable spot.” Watson has just played 12 games since joining the Browns in 2022 and leading the NFL in passing in 2020. “I missed a lot of football. I took off one year in 21; 22 I had a suspension then last year an unfortunate injury,” Watson said. “So that's one thing that you can't ask to get is that time you got to be available and I wasn't available the last two years for whatever circumstances, but God willing, just taking 'em one day at a time and I am available, those reps will come and I continue to get better.” Watson, who is in the third year of a fully guaranteed $230 million contract, is under the microscope more than ever as fans expect big things from him in 2024. “I don't look at it in a bad way,” Watson said. “Each and every fan, each and every media person, they want to see me at a level that I'm capable of doing. So that's the standard and so I’ve got to make sure I hold myself to it so it's not a bad thing, it's not anything like that. I don't get involved with people trying to rate me places where they think I'm at the bottom of the list. It is what it is. If I was at the bottom, no one would talk about me. So obviously if anyone is talking about me and going to continue to talk about me, then I must be pretty damn good.”

More money matters – Cooper isn’t the only player in line for an extension. Linebacker Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah is in the final year of his rookie deal that pays him just over $1.5 million. “My agents really handle those things,” Owusu-Koramoah said. “If they are negotiating, they'll contact me and they'll give me certain things like that. Hey look, what are you looking for? But I don't give much thought to it. It's really about ball.” Owusu-Koramoah, a 2021 second round pick is coming off his best season that saw him tally 101 tackles – 20 for a loss, six batted passes, 3.5 sacks, five QB hits and two interceptions. The Notre Dame product swears he’s not thinking much about his contract. “It's about compartmentalization,” Owusu-Koramoah said. “There's a time for it, and then there's a time to focus on football. There's different, you may go home and maybe six o'clock at night you're done studying and then okay, you may give some time to it, but there's always a time and place for everything.”

Return game – Three primary pair of returners were used during the kickoff portion of practice – Jerome Ford and Pierre Strong Jr., Ahmarean Brown and Jamari Thrash as well as Elijah Moore and D’Onta Foreman. “Myles raised his hand last night,” Stefanski joked. Stefanski finds himself just as involved with the kickoff return planning process as he does the offense. “It's new for Bubba, it's new for me, it's new for our players, so we're trying to work through all of those things,” Stefanski said. “There were some ideas that we had about the play that we thought and then you watch the guys run it live and maybe you feel a little bit differently. So it's something that is definitely going to be evolving. You'll see it in the preseason. It'll be a new play for all viewers. We'll all see it and it'll just look different. These things do and then you're even going to have to wait for that Thursday night and that Friday night game just to see, alright, well people are holding things back in the preseason now. What does it look like? So there's still things that we are working through and are curious about just like everybody else, but we know the rules. We know there's got to be two returners in the landing zone. So we'll work through all the details as we go.”

Side hustle – Nick Chubb, Joel Bitonio, Jack Conklin, Jedrick Wills, James Proche II, Cameron Mitchell and Jerry Jeudy did not practice but worked on the side or inside Tuesday.