Walking into the Browns locker room on practice days this season was usually a regular sight.
Safety Rodney McLeod, linebacker Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah and receiver Jerry Jeudy sitting at their corner lockers, engaged in some animated conversation.
More times than not, the trio was joined by wide receiver Amari Cooper. His locker was across the common area, but he still would go out of his way to pull up a chair.
“Coop is from down south Florida and my mother is also from down south Florida, so I spent a lot of time down there and him, 8 (Elijah Moore), Jeu, all of them guys have a similar type of background,“ said Owusu-Koramoah. ”So that was kind of good to have certain things to relate on, things to talk about. Cooper’s also a guy that was very spiritual, a guy that was much into history and science, so even Myles (Garrett) would get into those conversations. So I mean again, locker room was always an interesting place with Coop.”
On Wednesday, the day after the Browns traded their No. 1 receiver, it was a decidedly less interesting place with his locker already cleaned out and the five-time Pro Bowler off to the Buffalo Bills.
The trade is one that made sense. Cooper’s departure from the Browns was not a matter of if, but when. The Browns restructuring the final year of his deal to give him more guaranteed money also made his contract a trade-friendly one.
On top of it, the Browns are losing. So why not get a draft pick for a guy who is on his way out the door anyway?
But even though it made sense, losing Cooper is still obviously a loss for the Browns. He became the first receiver in Browns history to record back-to-back 1,000-yard seasons. He also set the Browns’ single-game receiving record with 265 yards in a 36-22 victory over the Texans in the regular season last year. Even through six games, he was their leading receiver with 24 catches for 250 yards and two TDs.
But it’s not just about his impressive production. It’s also about the way his impact stretched beyond the receiver room.
“Played with Coop for three years, one of my best teammates I probably ever had,“ Nick Chubb said. ”How he just worked hard and didn’t say much. Every day, I came in, went to work, and you saw it on the field. We’ll definitely miss him here.”
From Chubb, the player who has embedded himself into the fabric of the city as a no-nonsense, just-do-your-job running back, there‘s maybe no higher compliment than calling Cooper one of the “best teammates” he’s ever had.
It‘s something that was also evident in the way Deshaun Watson talked about Cooper’s departure, even though the two lacked chemistry through the first six games this season and never seemed to be on the same page.
“It’s definitely tough to see a brother and see a teammate that means a lot, not just for myself but for the locker room, get traded away, but you’ve got to trust the organization and what A.B. (Andrew Berry) and Kevin (Stefanski) and those guys upstairs have planned and that’s out of my control,” Watson said. “But at the same time, we’re definitely going to miss him and we appreciate everything he brought for this team and this organization.”
So what exactly allowed Cooper to latch on in this locker room?
It’s an interesting question, given his introverted personality.
Last year, Cooper told me he thought part of the reason he’s so quiet is because when he was growing up with three older sisters in south Florida, it was hard to get a word in edgewise. He learned from an early age to just take in his surroundings.
He also talked about not wanting to force his mentorship on anyone — if you want to learn from “Coop,” as most of his teammates call him, you have to seek out his guidance.
But still, Cooper was a presence. He was always around, interacting with different teammates and usually organizing different off-field games they would play in the locker room.
“I think it just really depends on the vibration of the teammate,“ Owusu-Koramoah said. ”Amari had a very high vibration and was a guy that was very relatable, a guy that (is) a great teammate; he was also a guy that could understand the personnel that was around him.”
There‘s no one-for-one replacement for Cooper on the field or in the Browns’ locker room.
But the reality is, everyone involved knows this is just the business of the NFL.
“When you lose a guy like that, just specifically in the locker room, obviously there’s a certain type of buzz; there’s a certain type of energy of a longing or missing of them,” Owusu-Koramoah said. “But obviously this is the NFL and I talked to Coop, too. We all understand the nature of the business and the nature of just where we’re at in life and society and the business that we are in. So it is what it is I think.”
