Pass Game Coordinator/Wide Receivers Coach Chad O’Shea (1.6.23)
On if it would be meaningful for WR Amari Cooper to set a new career high for receiving yards:
“What I have learned about Amari Cooper is he is such a team-oriented player that really all he cares about is contributing to the team and helping the team win. Obviously, I think that all players have individual goals, and we have individual goals for each individual player that we set at the beginning of the year. I would say that not speaking for Amari but speaking for him because I know him as well as I do now working with him for a year, what is important to him is truly helping the team win. I am very proud of Amari’s year and what he has accomplished individually because he has done it the right way. He has done it through hard work. He has done it by being a very unselfish player on our team. I just appreciate Amari and have a tremendous amount of respect for what he has accomplished and that he feels like the team is most important.”
On if the Browns learned from people across the league that Cooper was that type of player on and off the field prior to making the trade:
“It is very important in the process of acquiring players that we do our homework. The personnel staff does a great job here that obviously we are involved as a coaching staff to make sure we know who we are getting as not only the player – we can see that on tape – but the person. Amari came highly recommended, but I think until you work day to day with Amari and you become as close as you do to him as a player and person is when you really realize how strong of traits he has and what he brings to this football team. I can’t say enough about those intangibles that he has brought that has meant a lot not only to our receiver room but to our football team. What is most impressive about him is he goes about it the way he does. He doesn’t say much, but it is by his actions and it is by his example that he really is a tremendous leader for this team.”
On if Cooper’s strong route running ability has helped younger Browns WRs develop:
“Absolutely. Amari is a very accomplished route runner. He works very hard at that. He studies the opponents. He is very thorough about studying the opponent, and he works extremely hard all in being a great route runner. It is contagious in our room. He has really helped our guys. He has helped (WR) Donovan Peoples-Jones develop into a better, more refined route runner. He has helped I would say the group just become better fundamentally and become better professionals. I think very highly of our group in terms of how they have been professionally throughout the year, and I would say some of that is attributed to Amari’s influence on them. He has had a very positive effect on our group, and I am very appreciative that we have had the chance to work with him this year.”
On if Peoples-Jones has developed most this season in route running or another area:
“Donovan was really improved in all areas of his game, which is what we ask the players. ‘Hey, at the beginning of the year, can we improve and be the best version of yourself in all areas?’ He certainly has become a better route runner. We focused on that in the offseason and in training camp, but we focused on some other things in his game that I think he has really done a great job of. He has always been a detailed and dependable player for us in his first two years, but we challenged him to go over and beyond some of the things we have asked him to do in the past. That has to do with the route running and some of the things we have asked him to do on the route tree that might be a little bit different. Yeah, he has improved as a route runner, and I do think Amari’s influence on him and our group has been very helpful to him and his development.”
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